Phuket officials recognise first road accident death in ‘Seven Days’ campaign
PHUKET: Phuket suffered 11 road accidents that resulted in 10 people injured and one man killed during the 24 hours of Apr 12, Day 2 of the ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road and water safety campaign, reports the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket).
The tally was presented at a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall this morning (Apr 13), chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan and attended by DDPM-Phuket chief Udomporn Kan and other relevant officials.
The people injured in the accidents comprised six males and four females, said an official report of the meeting. Speeding was the most common factor in the accidents, the report said.
No other details of the accidents were provided.
The tally for the campaign so far, after two days, was 18 road accidents with 18 people injured (13 males, five females), with one male killed, the report noted.
The statistics reported by Phukte officials during the ‘Seven Days of Danger’ campaigns held each Songkran and New Year (Jan 1) holidays have come under increasing scrutiny and criticism.
National road accident agency Thai Road Safety Committee (ThaiRSC) reported two deaths and 86 people injured in road accidents in Phuket yesterday (Apr 12).
Governor Narong himself attended at meeting yesterday to discuss road safety where the official report of the meeting itself reported four deaths in road accidents over the previous two days (Apr 10-11) ‒ while the DDPM reported zero deaths in accidents on Apr 11.
ThaiRSC, however, reported one death and 57 people injured in road accidents yesterday (Apr 11).
POLICE
There are just 11 police checkpoints set up across the island, the report of this morning’s meeting confirmed.
The most common traffic law infractions found and acted on were driving without a driver’s licence, drunk driving and ‘unsafe motorcycles’, respectively, said the report.
However, no details of the number of arrests made have been available.
Marine accidents remained at zero so far during the campaign, the report said.
The Seven Days campaign will continue until midnight next Monday (Apr 17).
According to the report of this morning’s meeting, Vice Governor Amnuay said that he would like to thank all sectors for helping each other to work and “would like to emphasise that we continue to practice rigorously”.
He also asked for district officials to help set up community checkpoints today and tomorrow (Apr 13-14) to help bolster safety.
“In addition, the information on social media has a great influence on the perception of the people and tourists,” the report noted.
