Chonburi’s governor promised better education and enforcement to reduce the province’s road-accident rate.
Speaking at a Feb. 25 seminar of the Traffic Accident Prevention Planning Department’s eastern chapter, Gov. Pakarathorn Thienchai touted his success in bringing road injuries and fatalities down. When he came into office in 2017, Chonburi had one of the highest accidents rates in the country. It has improved steadily since then, he said, declining to cite specific figures.
As of Saturday, 2,237 people have died on Thailand’s roads, an average of 41 a day. On Friday alone, 43 people died – including two children, two foreigners and a pedestrian – and 2,274 injured.
Pakarathorn said the major causes of accidents are vehicles and roads but mostly human error. Drivers lack road discipline and do not comply with traffic signs, he said.
The government has tried to raise consciousness among drivers about safety by offering training and using law enforcement to reduce accidents and losses on the road. “But more needs to be done”, Pakarathorn said.
“Motorcyclists still don’t wear helmets as much as they should and drive too fast. The speed through residential neighborhoods, ignore crosswalks and run red lights.”
He said the province will organize more activities to educate drivers and increase enforcement by traffic police to bring down accidents.
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