Days after the Thai prime minister chaired a special meeting on road accident prevention ahead of this weekend's traditionally calamitous Thai New Year holiday, nine Cambodians have already lost their lives in the country's east.
Early Friday, a van carrying 19 migrant workers returning home for the Buddhist holiday left the road on a sharp curve, smashed into a tree and burst into flames in the province of Chanthaburi, a rescue worker told reporters.
Nine passengers were killed outright and the driver and 13 others injured, three of them hospitalized. Police suspect the driver fell asleep.
The New Year holiday, known locally as Songkran, was traditionally celebrated with a gentle splashing of water, and a talc and water covered finger politely smeared on the faces and bodies of random passersby as a blessing. These days, however, it has become a raucous, frenetic affair with locals and tourists cueing up with buckets, hosepipes and high power water pistols to soak each over six days of water-throwing mayhem.
The elderly and infirm cower indoors, fists are frequently thrown by those forced to join in, and Thai roads - never the safest due to the country's notoriously energetic drivers trying to escape traffic jams - become water hazards, pedestrians running out to escape being soaked, drivers frequently blinded by buckets of water thrown their way, or windscreens smeared with damp, scented talcum powder. Thais post themselves roadside of roads or at corners of intersections dousing anything that comes their way from garden hoses or large plastic trashcans. Being a public holiday, drunkenness behind the wheel is also prevalent, adding further mayhem.
Last year, 321 people died and 2,828 were injured during the April 11 to 17 holiday, while in 2009 there were 373 deaths and 4,332 injuries - a recent record. Numbers are not helped by the large numbers of people fleeing their places of work to travel home to their families, where more drunkenness and mayhem ensues. The average death toll by road accidents in Thailand is roughly 33 deaths a day, but it raises to between 40 and 50 per day during the Songkran period. The sense of doom is enhanced by some Thai newspapers carrying the ever-growing numbers of dead on front pages, a drop on last year's figure greeted with a sense of triumph.
Thailand is ranked second highest in the world for road accidents, according to a study by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. Data shows that the Kingdom averages 44 deaths per year per 100,000 people, second only to Namibia with 45 road deaths per 100,000. Fatalities from road accidents make up 5.1 percent of the Thailand's overall deaths.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra this week chaired a special committee to try and prevent and reduce the number of road accidents during the New Year period. Chatchai Promlert, director-general of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation department, said accident "coping" centers would be set up at central, provincial and district levels. The issue has been made a national priority.
According to a World Health Organization report, around 26 percent of road deaths in Thailand are caused by excessive consumption of alcohol. A disregard of traffic rules and motorcycle drivers and passengers not wearing helmets also add to the numbers.
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