Thursday saw 524 road accidents, resulting in 42 deaths and 565 people injured – a marked increase from the same day last year when 439 accidents claimed 39 lives and injured 456.

The main causes of accidents were drunk driving and speeding, Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Sophon Mekthon announced at the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department’s centre.

Chiang Mai reported the most accidents at 21; Pathum Thani suffered the most fatalities with four deaths, and Udon Thani and Phitsanulok had most casualties with 23 each.

Reporting that most accidents involved motorcycles (83 per cent), Sophon, who is deputy chairman of the road safety centre, said about 58 per cent of the accidents happened on a straight section of road. Most accidents occurred on highways (38 per cent) and tambon or village roads (32 per cent).

Working age victims

Over a third (35 per cent) of accidents took place between 4pm and 8pm and more than half (53 per cent) of victims were of working age, he said. The 2,016 checkpoints manned by 63,864 officers arrested 85,079 law-violating motorists, mostly for failing to show a driver’s licence (25,082) and failing to wear a helmet (24,019).

The authorities on Thursday prosecuted 500 violators of the holiday drink-driving ban, said National Council for Peace and Order deputy spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong. They impounded 21 motorcycles and six cars while also seizing driver’s licences from 62 motorcyclists and 25 personal car/public transport drivers.

Yesterday, as thousands set out for their hometowns or to visit attractions upcountry for the New Year holidays, highways were extremely busy while various transport hubs were crowded with travellers.

Prachin Buri’s No 304 Road (Kabin Buri-Nakhon Ratchasima) carried high volumes of holiday traffic since Thursday night until noon yesterday. Many also stopped off at restaurants, souvenir shops and attractions along the way.

Similar traffic conditions were reported at Nakhon Ratchasima’s Mitraparp Highway, with cars reportedly moving slowly at intersections, U-turns and near gas stations, while a special lane was added on a 9km-long section in Sikhieo district.

Bangkok transport hubs such as the Hua Lamphong train station and Mo Chit bus terminal were buzzing with people eager to return to hometowns to celebrate the New Year festival. It was estimated that up to 200,000 people would travel upcountry yesterday and extra bus services were laid on at Mo Chit to prevent travellers being left stranded.

Down South, Songkhla’s Hat Yai bus terminal saw long queues of travellers while the provincial transport office set up a checkpoint there to inspect the condition of buses and to check drivers for drinking.

At Yala railway station in Yala’s Muang district, two police officers dressed as cartoon mascots and 15 railway policemen got into the holiday mood, handing out brochures for safer train travel and distributing drinks to holidaymakers.

Meanwhile, deputy police spokesman Colonel Krisana Pattanacharoen said some 4,000 homes so far had participated in the Royal Thai Police’s “Fak Ban Wai Kub Tam Ruad” (leaving houses in police care) project during the holiday period.