The "seven dangerous days" campaign to reduce road accidents during the Songkran festival was officially launched on Wednesday, albeit without the usual fanfare and widespread publicity befitting the first fully-fledged Songkran in three years after the pandemic-induced hiatus.
As usual, a command centre was set up at the Ministry of Interior, with the Department of Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation playing the key role in coordinating with local officials across the country to crack down on speeding and drunk driving.
The Royal Thai Police has been mobilised nationwide to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic, especially on arterial routes linking Bangkok with the northern, northeastern and southern regions, and to ensure car drivers and motorcyclists have not imbibed beyond the legal limit.
Road accident statistics on the first day of the campaign don't bode well, however. Some 278 road accidents were recorded, resulting in 27 deaths and 287 injuries -- similar to last year. Some 74,440 were charged with traffic violations, including 1,734 cases of drunk driving. The main cause of the accidents was people speeding.
During the seven dangerous days campaign over the New Year in December and January, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda set the target of reducing the number of road accidents by 5% year-on-year. Sadly, no such target was set for Songkran.
The interior minister may have decided that setting such an ambitious target was too risky given the proximity to the general election on May 14. Failing to reach it could potentially expose him to criticism by political parties from the opposite camp as well as the ruling Palang Pracharath Party or United Thai Nation Party.
Yet the road accident campaign may remind motorists to exercise caution when driving, to refrain from drinking and, in the case of motorcyclists, to wear crash helmets -- or risk facing heavy charges. This should definitely help curb accidents to some degree.
But the campaign would not be necessary if the police strictly enforced the traffic laws on a daily basis, which is not the case. Motorcyclists can often be seen jumping lights at intersections or driving in the opposite lane, with many violations taking place in the presence of traffic policemen who just watch helplessly.
It is not too much of a stretch to argue that many motorists are not really qualified to drive because they don't have enough respect for the law. Or they believe they can get away with breaking the rules even if they are caught simply by paying a bribe to the police.
Since January, the Land Transport Department and the Royal Thai Police have enforced the driving licence point-deduction system, which also aims to curb traffic violations and dangerous driving. Drivers who have all 12 points deducted will have their licences suspended for 90 days. Those who have their licences suspended three times in as many years will have their licences permanently revoked upon a fourth suspension.
Because this measure has only been imposed for a few months, no habitual traffic violators have had their licences revoked yet, and hence, they may not feel very threatened.
Strict enforcement of the law on a regular basis by the police and better education to instil a sense of social responsibility and respect for the law in the general public would be more effective tools to deal with violations -- and not just traffic violations. If this can happen, the "seven dangerous days" campaigns would no longer be unnecessary.
