Udon Thani Thailand Forum - Udon Thani, Thailand

Thirty-nine killed, 461 injured on first of Songkran's '7 deadly days'
12 Apr 2018 at 14:06 17,154 viewed19 comments
WRITER: ONLINE REPORTERS AND WASSANA NANUAM

A woman was killed and 9 others, including the driver, were hurt when a pickup truck hit a roadside tree in Nakae district of Nakhon Phanom on Wednesday. (Photo by Pattanapong Sripiachai)

Thirty-nine people were killed and 461 injured in 447 road accidents across the country on Wednesday, the first of the "7 deadly days" of the Songkran festival.

Drink-driving was the cause of 40.49% of the crashes, followed by speeding at 26.62%, Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsuwat said on Thursday, citing a report by the road safety centre of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

Most of the accidents - 81.96% - involved motorcycles, and 61.30% occurred on main roads. The peak time for crashes was between 4pm and 8pm, said Mr Weerasak.

Chiang Rai had the highest number of road accidents - 18 - and the highest number of injuries, also at 18. Amnat Charoen, Loei, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Nakhon Phanom, Buri Ram, Chon Buri and Phetchabun shared the highest death toll, with two in each province.


Authorities have set up 2,031 road checkpoints manned by a total of 65,413 police, soldiers, officials and volunteers. A total of 678,566 vehicles were stopped for inspection, with 128,260 people facing action for traffic violations, including 35,582 motorcyclists without crash helmets.

More than 3,000 people were arrested for drink-drinking and 146 vehicles impounded on Wednesday, the first-day of the anti-drink driving measures during the Songkran festival.

National Council for Peace and Order and army spokeswoman Sirichan Ngathong said on Thursday that a total of 3,339 people were found to have violated the anti-drink driving measures and 146 vehicles were impounded on the first day of the nationwide operation that kicked off on Wednesday.The offenders included motorcyclists and drivers of public vehicles and private vehicles, said Col Sirichan.

Authorities impounded 105 motorcycles and seized the licenses of 356 riders, she said, and 1,457 motorcycle riders face legal action.

A total of 41 vehicles, both public and private, were impounded. 82 drivers had their driving licences seized and 1,259 people were facing legal action, she said.

What's the legal limit for drink driving here?

Faraday wrote: ↑

April 13, 2018, 2:37 pm

What's the legal limit for drink driving here?

It SHOULD Be ZERO,Coz They CAN'T Handle it.....

Depends on the size of your wallet

Faraday wrote: ↑

April 13, 2018, 2:37 pm

What's the legal limit for drink driving here?

Faraday as usual it's very hard to get an answer sometimes on this forum.
Not long ago the elder stepdaughter went for her license and I looked into the limit. Wanted to attempt to try and educate her, along with other road rules.

To my knowledge at that time of checking, the law is .05 for 5 year license holder, but the new laws now include .02 for the age range my stepdaughter is in.
So new license holders, 2 year license holder, temporary licence holder plus some others are all in the .02. Maybe that would include IDL candidates?
Also she had a car to drive and the insurance was to include the statement, no cover if you have an accident when over the limit you are categorised into.
Good luck during this time holiday time.

Barney wrote: ↑

April 13, 2018, 3:35 pm

Faraday wrote: ↑

April 13, 2018, 2:37 pm

What's the legal limit for drink driving here?

Faraday as usual it's very hard to get an answer sometimes on this forum.
Not long ago the elder stepdaughter went for her license and I looked into the limit. Wanted to attempt to try and educate her, along with other road rules.

To my knowledge at that time of checking, the law is .05 for 5 year license holder, but the new laws now include .02 for the age range my stepdaughter is in.
So new license holders, 2 year license holder, temporary licence holder plus some others are all in the .02. Maybe that would include IDL candidates?
Also she had a car to drive and the insurance was to include the statement, no cover if you have an accident when over the limit you are categorised into.
Good luck during this time holiday time.

Correct information, the standard Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit is set at 0.05% which is apparently in alignment with most EU countries This means you are legal if there is no more than 50 mg/dl of blood, which can be tested through both blood or breathalizer test. Those who have not yet had their licence for five years have a lower limit of 0.02% or no more than 20 mg/dl. I am unaware of any use of the Thai DL 2-year versus 5-year rule applies if nabbed driving pissed on an IDL but I doubt it and probably the 'standard' 0.05% applies.

Thank you Barney & Tam.

I was watching a Cop TV series from the UK the other night, they now do roadside drug testing, which I didn't know was available.

Hope it's introduced here soon.

The offenders included motorcyclists and drivers of public vehicles and private vehicles, said Col Sirichan.

I presume this is drivers of coaches,buses,mini buses and taxis.......

They should have a stint in the cells for this.

And people actually complain about Christmas? This is far worse.

Being a bit harsh aren't we ......... after all what could possibly go wrong when you stop still a pick up full of alcohol loaded numbskulls in the fast lane of a triple carriageway 90kph limit road so as they can soak the road whilst having a water fight with another bunch of idiots on the side of the road

The law in Queensland Australia states the BAC limit for drivers with an open licence is 0.05. In theory if you have a reading of 0.05 you are gone, if your reading is 0.49 you are ok.

"Police said 61,702 drivers face prosecution, with 18,210 found to not have a driving license and 16,553 were not wearing helmets.
While the stats above might be shocking to some, on average between 50 and 60 people are killed on Thailand’s roads each day, so the figures so far appear to show no significant spike in deaths, despite it being Songkran."
In other words "We dont see anything different so why worry?"

Wanting to avoid the worst of the traffic, my wife and I left Jomtien for Loei at 8:00 am Saturday the 10th. That was a bad idea. Traffic was still terrible. The normal 8.5 hour drive took about 12.5 hours. Surprisingly on the trip down and back, we saw no accidents. It was bumper to bumper most of the way.

18,210 found to not have a driving license

Yet, likely allowed to continue driving as to not disrupt the sanookness of the season.

Ahh, paradise.

Sorry I dont know any of your Family

To put an end to this childish conversation, I came to the conclusion some years ago ( he says wearing his Angels Halo ) that as the Roadside checks for Drink Driving are carried out in a VERY cavalier fashion, and following conversations with some senior BIB, as the machines available at the roadside are hardly ever maintained and calibrated, NOT drinking whenever driving is by far the safest option.
True they have changed the procedures somewhat and have the option of another test at the station, I am not privy to that scenario but if your a Foreigner the odds are stacked against you.

I know of one or two Foreigners who following a Positive Roadside test, later had a complete negative result following a blood test and subsequently found that the Roadside machines had been compromised, one by the oifficer coincerned also blowing in ( he was drunk ).

So the moral of this post is, Never drink and drive .

Lastly once I was stopped and an officer asked me if I had anything to drink, I replied yes. I blew as requested and he relied you have not drunk any drink, I replied yes I had, Coke and Coffee. he got angry, so I stated he should have asked if I had drunk any Alcohol. he was not amused but I was laughing as I drove away. They have no Humour these guys at all..Beware.

During my trip to Jomtien and back, the number of death defying motorcycle drivers scared me a number of times. They obviously consider themselves bulletproof. Looking at the number of fatalities, it should be obvious what the major problem is.