National Police Commander, Police General Patcharawat Wongsuwan (พัชรวาท วงษ์สุวรรณ) revealed after opening a seminar on traffic safety as part of the “365 dangerous days: Stop Traffic Fatalities” project that traffic accidents are the leading cause of fatalities in the nation. Last year statistics revealed that out of 100,000 thousand traffic accidents, 12,000 people were slain averaging to 33 people per day or 4.5 times greater than fatalities from crime. The number 1 reason for accidents was speeding followed by drunk driving.

The National Police have set priorities to deter 6 common offenses consisting of speeding, drunk driving, running red lights, failure to fasten seat belts, failure to wear helmets and using cell phones while driving. Police across the nation have been instructed to crack down on the offenses.

The Police Commander commented that apart from road conditions and automobiles, people are the largest cause of traffic accidents and thus the crackdown is necessary for people to be more disciplined in their driving.

National Police to crackdown on driving offenses in hopes of reducing traffic accidents

Source : National News Bureau, Public Relations Department of Thailand