New Year road toll reaches 190

New Year road toll reaches 190
Traffic builds up on Bangkok’s Kanchanaphisek ring road on Monday. (Photo: Chanat Katanyu)

in the four days Dec 29 to Jan 1 there were 1,570 traffic accidents which killed 190 people and injured 1,574 others, and Kanchanaburi province had the most accidents and largest number of injured.

Announcing the New Year road toll figures, Dr Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the Department of Medical Services, said there were 57 traffic accidents in Kanchanaburi, which injured 56  people in Kanchanaburi.

Bangkok had the highest road death toll, with 13.

On Monday) there were 419 traffic accidents, killing 62 people and leaving 422 injured. 

The most common cause of accidents was speeding (39% of all accidents), followed by drink driving (30%). Motorcycles were involved in 86% of road accidents.

The State Railway of Thailand reported that 100,024 people travelled on trains on Monday. The largest number, 28,246  people used the southern route, followed by 26,057 on northeastern lines.

According to the World Health Organization, an average of 60 people die on Thailand’s roads every day of the year, so the official government statistics would appear to understate the actual fatality rate. One possible explanation is that some of those reported injured later die from their injuries. 

WHO details here: