BANGKOK, April 14 – There have been 161 deaths and 1,640 injuries so far during the three-day Songkran holiday, according to Thailand’s Road Safety Directing Center.
Dr Nopporn Cheunklin, Deputy director of the Department of Disease Control, said the number of road accidents during April 11-13 was 1,539, an increase of 93 from last year.
The highest number of accidents at 64 occurred in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. It also saw the highest number of injuries at 69, while the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima reached the highest death toll at 10.
The causes of accidents were mainly due to drunk driving and speeding by motorcycles and pickup trucks respectively.
Chaiyaphum has so far been the only province not having experienced road accidents.
As of April 13, the number of accidents reached 689, an increase of 34 accidents year-on-year with 59 deaths and 747 injuries, or a drop of 14 cases and an increase of 59 cases respectively.
The deputy director, meanwhile, said according to the projection of incidents, the level of road accidents this year has been more serious than last year with 65 per cent of the total deaths having occurred immediately during the actual accidents.
