Songkran crackdown launched
Children play with a variety of water guns in an early Songkran water fight.
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The Road Safety Centre yesterday reported that 138 people were killed and 1,751 injured on the country's roads during the first four days of the Songkran holiday, and announced a crackdown on speeding and drunk drivers as well as roadside alcohol-sellers.
Drunk or speeding drivers, as well as sober drivers with drunken passengers, will be arrested for reckless driving and endangering others, while vendors at roadside shops and petrol stations who sell alcoholic drinks will also be arrested, the centre said. Highway police also warned that revellers who cause a fatal accident by throwing water at motorists could be charged with murder. The number of accidents in the first four days of the annual festival dropped almost 10 per cent from the same period last year, from 1,701 to 1,544. The number of deaths fell slightly more than 20 per cent, from 175 to 138, and the number of injuries declined about 6.5 per cent to 1,751 from 1,872, said Interior Minister ACM Kongsak Wantana who is also the centre's deputy director. On Monday there were 414 accidents claiming 28 lives and most were the result of drunk driving and speeding, Kongsak said. An accident that claimed the lives of six people in Nakhon Ratchasima on Monday pushed the province to the top of the chart with nine deaths, followed by Songkhla with eight and Chiang Mai with five. The great majority of accidents involved motorcycles and took place off highways between 4pm to 8pm, Kongsak said. Of the 712,036 vehicles stopped at checkpoints, 31,442 motorists were charged, the majority for riding a motorcycle without a helmet, reckless driving and failing to present a driving licence.
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