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Published on January 1, 2008

Road accidents claimed 188 lives and injured 2,131 others in the first three days of the so-called "seven dangerous days" of the New Year break, the Road Safety Centre announced yesterday.

Chaisawat Kittipornpai-bool, the Transport Ministry's permanent secretary, said 1,965 road accidents occurred on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which was 47 higher than the same period last year.

A total of 188 people were killed - nine more than in the same period last year - and 2,131 people were injured. The figure for injuries was exactly the same as for last year's period, he said. Khon Kaen and Nakhon Pathom saw the most road deaths at 11 each, followed by Bangkok, Rayong and Sa Kaew with seven deaths each, he said.

Surin saw the most injuries with 75 cases, followed by Chiang Mai and Nakhon Pathom, each with 73 cases.

Chiang Mai saw 69 accidents, followed by Chiang Rai with 68, Surin with 66 and Nakon Pathom with 65, Chaisawat said. Twelve provinces reported zero fatalities.

On Sunday alone, 818 accidents occurred, killing 70 people and injuring 877 others, Chaisawat said. Drunk drivers caused nearly half the accidents (at 46.45 per cent) followed by speeding vehicles at 20.42 per cent and cutting in front of other vehicles at 11.12 per cent, he said.

About 86 per cent of accidents involved motorcycles and most occurred on secondary roads between 4pm to 8pm, he added.

Some 1,580,370 vehicles were stopped at checkpoints and 44,168 motorists were charged with violating traffic laws.

Most violators were charged because they were unable to present their driver's licence (about 35 per cent) followed by motorcycle riders not wearing helmets (about 32 per cent) and drivers not wearing seatbelts (about 14.53 per cent), according to Chaisawat.

In related news, police have arrested four people suspected of throwing sugarcane sticks at passing vehicles in Uthai Thani's Nong Chang district. The suspects allegedly confessed to having acted on impulse.

The arrests followed a compliant filed by Nattapiol Tipwiset after a group of people had allegedly thrown a rock at his pickup truck late on Sunday night while he was driving with relatives on

Ban Pradahak-Ban Nampu Road.

The object, later identified as a stick of sugarcane, hit the truck's windshield but none of the vehicle's occupants was injured.

Police later arrested a group of four male teenagers on two motorcycles. One, aged 15, reportedly confessed that they had been drinking and were on their way to a temple fair when they spotted a sugarcane stick on the roadside. They threw it at the speeding truck on impulse.

Police charged them with riding a motorcycle while under the influence of alcohol and with damaging property.

 The Nation