PHUKET: Phuket officials have recognised only two people injured in road accidents on the first day for the ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road-safety campaign for the New Year.
The news finally came in a report posted by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket) late yesterday afternoon (Dec 30).
The first day of the campaign was from midnight Tuesday night to midnight Wednesday night (00:01am – 23:59pm, Dec 29).
Unlike previous years, the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention & Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket), which is responsible for collating and presenting the data for the Seven Days campaign, has yet to issue any of its own reports.
According to the PR Phuket report, Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Pananpong presented the report for Day 1 of the campaign this year at a meeting at phuket Provincial Hall attended by DDPM-Phuket Chief Udomporn Kan and Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) Chief Dr Kusak Kiattikoon.
The people injured were both motorcyclists, said the report.
There have been no road deaths so far in the campaign, the report added.
No other information was provided, including the location of the accidents or even whether alcohol was a factor or whether the motorcyclists injured were wearing a helmet.
Also still yet to be provided this year is any indication of the traffic violations enforced by police across the island. Despite daily reports of how much police are enforcing their ‘100% Wear a helmet’ campaign and have ramped up their enforcement of traffic laws over the holidays, police have yet to report taking action against a single person caught not wearing a helmet or breaking any other traffic law.
Citing Vice Governor Pichet, the report yesterday continued with the government warning that many people take to the roads during the New Year holidays, greatly increasing the number of accidents on the roads, and that the government had ramped up its efforts to prevent road accidents over the New Year holidays.
To that end, people were again reminded to not break traffic laws, not drunk drive and to ensure they wear a helmet while riding a motorbike.
“There has been an increase in the strictness of taking care of public safety. In addition, the law has been enforced on those who still violate seriously to reduce accidents, especially in the matter of drunk driving.
“Motorcyclists must wear a helmet every time they drive and we emphasise that the people of Phuket and tourists drive with caution, strictly follow the traffic rules and can stop at various checkpoints and service points that Phuket Province has prepared to cover all areas of Phuket.
“Phuket Province [the provincial government] has set a seven-day campaign to prevent and reduce road and sea accidents during the New Year Festival 2022, between 29 December 2021 – 4 January 2022, a total of seven days with the goal of integrating cooperation between agencies involved in the prevention and reduction of road and maritime accidents and ensuring the safety of citizens and tourists from road and maritime accidents as well as reducing the number of injuries and deaths during the New Year festival 2022,” said the government report.
To achieve the goal of reducing the number of road accidents as much as possible over the holidays, officials have set up 11 main checkpoints scattered throughout all three districts in Phuket, the report noted.
Officials were instructed to ensure the roads were as safe as possible, such as by making sure street lighting was working, the report added.
Meanwhile, the fanfare celebrating how much officials are enforcing their Seven Days road safety campaign has continued.
Separate reports have been posted to highlight Region 8 Police Commander Lt Gen Amphol Buarabphon inspecting the Phuket Check Point to ensure police were performing their duties there, to highlight Vice Governor Pichet inspecting a traffic checkpoint on Thepkrasattri Rd, Rassada, and to highlight Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan inspecting Ao Por Pier to ensure marine safety regulations were being enforced.
Of note, statistics released by the Thai Road Safety Commission (ThaiRSC) this year mark only the two people injured so far during the campaign.
In years past, ThaiRSC has proved to be much more comprehensive in its reports, as it confirmed information provided by rescue workers, individual hospitals and police, not just information provided by leading Phuket officials.
Over the New Year Seven Days campaign last year, DDPM-Phuket reported that Phuket suffered a total of 35 accidents with 36 people and one death for the whole seven-day campaign across the island.
In contrast, ThaiRSC reported that 299 people were injured and one person died in road accidents in Phuket during the whole seven days.
ThaiRSC today (Dec 31) marks that Phuket has suffered 71 deaths and 13,025 injured in road accidents so far this year.
Of those, nine deaths and 1,350 injuries occurred this month.
Source: The Phuket News