Road Accidents Increase Again After Alcohol Ban Lifted

An expected side effect of the alcohol ban was a significant drop in the number of road deaths, as many, if not most, of Thailand’s fatal road accidents, involve drink driving, especially during holidays.

With the ban on alcohol lifted, the bloodshed has resumed on the roads of Thailand.

The selling and transport of alcohol were banned as part of the national state of emergency in order to avoid people drinking and socializing during the Covid-19 crisis.

The national ban on alcohol in all 76 of Thailand’s provinces, was lifted last Sunday.

Now, after about three weeks, the ban was lifted. Road deaths have increased, rising to 63 on Monday, 8 more people than the cumulative number of people killed by coronavirus since the outbreak started in Thailand at the end of January.

Thailand’s roads are among the worst in the world, ranked 9th in the World Health Organization, with an average of 22,000 deaths each year and more than 1 million injured.

In 2019, the majority of road deaths and injuries were motorcyclists, who accounted for 92% of fatal accidents.

Specifically, younger male motorcyclists who were driving under the influence of alcohol.

The government has set the target of reducing road deaths to 664 a year, a number that has already been exceeded by almost one-third this year, with 872 yesterday.

Road accidents killed 45 people and injured 2,523 every day on average from January to October 2019, according to data compiled by the central road accident claims company.

In Surat Thani alone, there have been 6,630 road-related injuries and 36 deaths, so far this year.

SOURCE:Richard Barow In Thailand

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