Phuket's ‘Seven Days of Danger’

A total of six dead (including two foreigners) and 76 injured on Phuket’s roads during the holiday season was recorded. The ‘seven days of danger' ran from midnight December 28 to midnight on January 4.

The biggest contributor to the accidents was the combination of alcohol and motorcycles.

The road-safety campaign included a complete shakedown of motorists on the island. More than 62,000 were stopped at nine checkpoints on Phuket which were manned by 342 officers. A total of 12,180 motorists were subsequently charged with violations, mostly including driving without a license and failure to wear a helmet.

In addition to driving without a license (which amounted to 4,780 cases), other high-figure violations included driving while not wearing a seatbelt (2,203 cases), riding a motorbike without a helmet (2,052 cases), drunk driving (2,030 cases) and riding an unsafe motorcycle (1,115 cases).

Most accidents occurred at night (78%), and primarily on state highways.

V/Gov Tri said that the police were more prepared this year with more widespread checkpoints than the previous year. Despite this the amount of deaths and accidents were more than double the previous year, where three people died and 32 people were injured during the same period.

The ‘seven days of danger’ is a precursor to the Thai New Year of Songkran in April, when a combination of water, road congestion and alcohol cause a huge amount of accidents throughout Thailand. Foreign visitors are urged to be extra cautious when visiting Thailand during this time.