Drunk driving involving mostly motorcycles was the major cause of the 499 deaths and close to 5,000 injuries recorded over the seven dangerous days.

Road accidents were up by just over 6 per cent, resulting in increases of almost 2 per cent in deaths and 4 per cent in injuries, said Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Kosit Panpiemras, who is in charge of the Road Safety Centre.

About eight in 10 accidents involved motorbikes on connecting roads rather than the highways or main roads in the provinces, he said.

Prachuap Khiri Khan, Bangkok and Narathiwat shared the highest death toll of 18.

Khon Kaen, Chiang Rai and Nakhon Ratchasima had the most injuries at 157, 150 and 148 respectively, while Chai Nat, Mae Hong Son, Yasothon, Lamphun, Samut Songkhram and Angthong were free of fatalities, he said.

Stringent measures including cracking down on traffic law offenders were carried out to the fullest extent during the holidays, he said.

About 250,000 motorists were arrested and fined, mostly for unsafe driving such as not wearing a safety helmet.

"After all that, we still failed to achieve the goal of keeping the number of deaths below 410 and injuries under 4,555," Kosit said.

"But we did our best … if we hadn't worked this hard, considerably more lives would have been lost."

Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla said better control of alcohol consumption would help reduce the road slaughter during festivals. And for the upcoming Songkran festival, tougher measures to control drinking would be carried out. 

Piyanutch Thamnukasetchai

The Nation