BANGKOK, Dec 28 (TNA) — The week of dangerous New Year road traffic started yesterday with 420 accidents, 42 killed victims and 432 injured people.
Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat announced the figures at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. He said the highest number of accidents (19) happened in Chiang Mai and Ratchaburi provinces each, the highest death toll (4) was recorded in Khon Kaen and Lop Buri provinces each, and the biggest number of injured cases (20) was reported in Chiang Mai.
The most common cause of traffic accidents was drunk driving (37.62%), followed by speeding (21.19%).
The most common kind of vehicles in the accidents was motorcycle, involved in 79.95% of road accidents on Thursday.
Mr Weerasak said most accidents (39.29%) happened on highways while 31.90% of total accidents occurred on village and sub-district roads. The most common hours of the accidents were from 4pm to 8pm (34.52%) and the biggest age range of victims (31.22%) was 50 years old and over.
Officials operated 2,042 checkpoints where 114,177 people were prosecuted for traffic rule violations. They included 34,165 people who did not wear crash helmets, 30,923 who did not have a driving licence and 14,411 people who failed to fasten their seat belts. (TNA)
