Phuket officials silent on start of Seven Days of Danger

PHUKET: In a giant break from decades of tradition, Phuket officials have yet to make any reports on deaths or injuries from road accidents in the ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road-safety campaign for New Year 2022.

The campaign began at midnight Tuesday night (00:01am Dec 29).

Over the years it has become tradition for an incumbent Vice Governor, at the least, to be present at a daily update meeting each morning of the campaign to be briefed on the deaths and accidents in the province so far during the campaign.

At the time this article was posted online, no reports confirming any deaths or injuries ‒ or even any road accidents ‒ have been reported by Phuket officials, including the Phuket Provincial office of the Department of Disaster Prevention & Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket), which is responsible for making the information public.

So far the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket) has shared on its official Facebook page a slew of reports and videos posted by privately operated Thai news media to highlight that the campaign has begun throughout the country, but not that the campaign has begun in Phuket.

Officials have widely reported the opening of the “Road and Marine Accident Prevention and Operation Center” as part of the “awareness campaign of safety while driving during the New Year’s festival”, confirming that the campaign is actually underway in Phuket.

Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew presided over the ceremony at the new Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Dec 29), joined by DDPM-Phuket Chief Udomporn Kan and a host of other officials.

Mr Udomphon said that Phuket “had set a campaign to prevent and reduce road and marine accidents during the New Year’s festival from Dec 29-Jan 4”.

“The Road Safety Network Partnership recognises the importance of developing this cooperation, therefore set up this activity, which aims to ensure the safety of citizens and tourists from accidents to reduce the number of injuries, the number of deaths

“This activity will be one way to achieve results in the prevention and reduction of road and marine accidents, and creating a culture of safety from various disasters stable and sustainable,” Mr Udomporn added.

Governor Narong said that the New Year is a time of many consecutive holidays that are celebrated. This weekend many people will not return to work until next Tuesday (Jan 4).

“It is also the period when people take the opportunity to return to their hometowns and travel to various places, resulting in the use of vehicles more than usual, and it causes accidents easily both on the road and on water. 

“From the past statistics found that most accidents are caused by drunkenness and driving too fast. Motorcycles cut other vehicles off, no driver’s license and being tired from making long trips are other factors,” he said.

“For this New Year’s Festival, it has set goals in action, namely road accident statistics, the number of deaths and injuries reduced to a minimum by setting goals, and encouraging all citizens to strictly comply with the law, moreover, must be citizens taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” he added.

However, there have been no reports since, not even marking one accident since the campaign began.

The Phuket News has been told that Phuket Provincial Police has set up 11 main checkpoints, three secondary checkpoints  and 10 service points across the island.

Source: The Phuket News

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