Picture: Thai Rath
Though celebrations of the Songkran Festival or traditional Thai New Year are set to be muted again this year because of the pandemic, the authorities are still pressing ahead with measures to mitigate the carnage on the roads that goes hand in hand with the celebration.
Last week DPM Prawit Wongsuwan initiated a five point plan to lessen road accidents for the so called “Seven Deadly Days of Songkran” before, during and after the weeklong holiday from 10th to 16th of April as reported by Thai Rath.
These measures were designed to ensure less accidents and less damage to life, limb and vehicles.
In substance they contained very little new to what is always seen in Thailand every January and April New Year time – a greater sense of enforcement, closure of some danger spots on highways like U-turns, and lots more of the familiar “convenience tents” for the public.
This is all delivered with lashings of lip-service, say critics.
Opinions are divided on whether the measures really do any good. Certainly the number of dead and maimed on the roads is similar to “normal” days though some might argue that traffic is higher so the measures are in part at least a success.
Thailand has an accepted death toll on the roads of between 24,000 and 26,000 annually with the great majority of those – possibly as high as 80% involving motorcycle accidents.
Last year’s carnage was largely helped by the curfew and ban on the sale of alcohol at the height of the first wave of the pandemic.
But even though things like water splashing look set to be banned limiting the free-for-all aspect of Songkran 2021, there are fears it will be more of the same as experienced every year prior to the pandemic.
Other critics of the seven deadly day focus have said that it is typical of Thai officialdom – and the people themselves – to make a song and dance of a problem for public show once or twice a year – then revert to type for the remaining 50 weeks of the year.
Meanwhile in Bangkok Thai Rath reported that safety campaigns would be carried out over the next two weeks followed by the seven day crackdown.
They made much of the comments of a civil engineer called Thaiwut Chankaew of the BMA who said that measures would include the checking and repair of the road surface and lights prior to Songkran.
The media said in their headline that these measures would reduce accidents.
In addition there will be greater enforcement in the capital, lots of checkpoints and those “convenience tents”.
Contractors of the large rail infrastructure projects would be encouraged to make repairs and mitigate accident prospects on damaged roads too.
However, for most Bangkok residents Songkran – with the annual exodus of workers to the countryside – is usually deserted with the roads free of the normally gridlocked traffic creating a blissful week.
Much of the carnage shifts from the well policed main roads at Songkran to the country roads of the provinces where drunks in cars and on bikes roam free.
(Source: – Thai Visa News)