Another 51 people died in road accidents on Sunday, bringing the death toll for four days of the New Year’s festival to 236, with 2,265 injured from 2,194 road accidents throughout the country, according to the Centre for the Prevention and Reduction of Road Accidents.
Drunk driving was blamed as the main cause of the road accidents on Sunday, accounting for 42.42 percent of the road accidents, followed by 27.99 percent from speeding, said Prasarn Mahaleetrakul, director-general of the Probation Department.
For the past four days, Chiang Mai topped the list with the highest rate of road accidents, 77. It also had the highest death toll along with Nakhon Ratchasima, with 12 deaths each and the highest number of injured at 79.
Most the accidents occurred between 4 pm and 8 pm.
Assessments of the road accidents for the past three days show 37.95 percent of the accidents were caused by speeding and 27.68 percent from drunk driving.
Prasarn said he had instructed officials concerned to tighten up enforcement on sale of alcoholic drinks, especially to youth under 20 at venues where New Year’s celebrations were held.
