ON the first Songkran holiday yesterday (April 11) there were altogether 447 road accidents nationwide leading to 39 fatalities and 461 people being injured, INN News reported today (April 12).
Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said statistics compiled by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and related agencies also showed that the biggest cause of accident was drunk driving, totaling 181 times.
The biggest cause of death was riding a motorcycle without wearing a crash helmet.
Northern Chiang Rai province had the most accidents yesterday, totaling 18, and the also highest number of road fatalities at 18.
Meanwhile Matichon daily quoted Dr Sirichan Ngathong, a deputy spokesperson of the National Council of Peace and Order, as revealing that there were as many as 3,339 cases of drunk driving yesterday.
Of this total 1,864 were motorcycles with police seizing 105 motorbikes, 356 driving licenses and proceeding with legal action against 1,457 bikers.
Public and private vehicles violated traffic regulations 1,475 times, and 41 cars and 82 driving licenses were seized with legal action being taken against 1,259 drivers.
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Top: Cars and motorcycles searched at a checkpoint yesterday. Photo: Matichon
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