The disaster prevention center has revealed the statistics collected during the so-called Seven Deadly Days of Songkran.
Interior ministry deputy secretary Chotinrin Kerdsom revealed today that during this year’s celebration of Thai New Year, from April 11 – 17, there were a total of 2,203 accidents, 264 deaths, and 2,208 injuries reported.
The region that saw the largest number of fatalities was Bangkok with 22 people killed over the holiday period. The region that recorded the most injuries was Nakhon Si Thammarat, which reported 70, followed closely by Chiang Rai with 68.
Two provinces recorded no fatalities: Patthalung and Phang Nga.
The reported cause of most accidents was driving too fast at 38.22%, followed by drink driving at 23.97% and overtaking at 17.57%.
The vehicles type that got into most accidents was, unsurprisingly, motorcyles, which were involved in 80.46% of all accidents, followed by pickup trucks at 7.43% and cars at 3.85%.
The times during which the largest number of accidents occurred were between 7-8pm at 7.65%, followed by 4-5pm at 7.16%, and 5-6pm at 6.80%.
The released statistics also show that authorities set up 1,869 main checkpoints, deployed 54,274 operational officers and summoned 279,837 vehicles.
A total of 39,611 people were prosecuted, with 11,013 of them found guilty of not having a driver’s license and 10,530 found guilty of not wearing a helmet.
Compared to the statistics from last year, this year’s Songkran saw a 14% increase in road accidents (up from 1,917 in 2022) and a 4.9% decrease in deaths (down from 278) while the overall number of injuries increased 18% (up from 1,869).
