The Songkran holidays this year saw 3,447 accidents, causing 442 deaths and 3,656 people getting injured. Courts have put defendants on probation in 5,655 cases, of which 5,228 cases are related to drunk driving, 24 for reckless driving and 403 for other reasons.

Narat said the number of drunk-driving cases had risen by 1,177 or |29 per cent, with most of them in Bangkok, followed by Pathum Thani with 265 cases and Sakhon Nakhon 223 cases.

Of the total drunk-driving cases, some 90 per cent, or 5,000 motorists, were arrested caught before they could cause an accident. These 5,000 drunk-driving offenders have been ordered to do community service and report to the court four times a year.

Those who caused accidents while inebriated will, however, have to undergo harsher probationary measures such as having to work at hospitals or foundations to look after road-accident victims. None of the offenders have been instructed to work in intensive care units or the mortuary so far.

Since a new law amendment empowers the department to use community service as a penalty measure, it plans to have offenders work in mortuaries and the ICU so they can see the grief caused to family members who have lost their loved ones to reckless driving, Narat said.

He said getting offenders to work with medical personnel in hospitals was not a violation of human rights, because they have been found guilty but their sentences commuted to community service.

“They will not be told to dissect |or clean bodies, only observe medical personnel on duty to boost awareness of those caught for drunk driving,” he said.