PHUKET: Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew chaired a meeting yesterday (Apr 12) to focus on the problem of rental operators renting out motorbikes to tourists who end up killed or maimed in motorbike accidents while on holiday in Phuket.
The aim of the meeting was to expedite efforts to resolve the problem, especially concerning motorbike operators renting out motorbikes to tourists after an increase in accidents, said an official report of the meeting.
Present for the meeting were Phuket Vice Governor Anupap Rodkwan Yodrabam, and Udomporn Kan, Head of Phuket Provincial office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket),. together with heads of relevant government agencies, said the report.
At the meeting representatives from the Prince of Songkla University, Phuket campus presented statistics showing that road accidents in Phuket involving tourists were “ quite high”, with tourists increasingly involved in accidents where the tourists were injured or killed.
Governor Narong said that the meeting discussed this time. to listen to opinions of relevant government agencies whether in the provincial transport, police, public health, disaster prevention and mitigation And other agencies to find solutions to the problem of road accidents that have become increasingly statistically,
As of the time of the meeting (yesterday, Apr 12), in the previous two days four people, tourists among them, had died in road accidents, with motorbikes being the most common vehicle involved.
Of note, only earlier yesterday morning Phuket officials, namely from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), reported zero deaths in Phuket from road accidents during the first day of the ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road and water safety campaign yesterday (Apr 11).
While feedback and opinions from those present were heard yesterday, the only result of the meeting was the same action that officials are already supposed to be taking: ensuring that rental operators do not rent vehicles out to tourists who do not have the correct licence.
People renting motorbikes without the correct licence were “unskilled, causing the accident”, said the report of the meeting.
“The province must have a way to solve problems by enforcing the law. Tourists who rent vehicles from rental operators must have a driver’s license, etc,” the report said.
“The province will set up a committee to come up with an action plan to solve the problem to see concrete results and be able to reduce accidents for both tourists and local residents,” the report concluded.
