About 80,000 police will be on duty nationwide to try and ease traffic congestion and deal with road accidents during next month's Songkran festival holiday.
Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, deputy national police chief, on Tuesday said the traffic management plan had been completed for the April 11-17 holiday, when people head to their home provinces for the annual festival.
Pol Gen Damrongsak said 6.7 million cars were expected to be on the roads for the holiday, with April 12-13 and April 16-17 being the peak days for outbound and inbound traffic. About 80,000 officers would be on duty.
Local authorities had been ordered to provide alternative routes, bypasses and shortcuts to help ease traffic. Spaces would be freed up and officers deployed to intersections or rest areas from April 8, in advance of the busiest period.
Enforcement of 10 traffic laws would be given priority - and they included preventing drink driving, keeping motorcycles off footpaths and speed limits.
All drivers involved in road accidents would be given blood alcohol tests.
Officers will also be vigilant when it comes to crosswalks and violations would be acted upon. Since February, 3,739 people had been arrested on crosswalk-related charges.
There were 10,254 crosswalks nationwide, and 328 new crosswalks would be created while 25 would be cancelled or moved. Improvements were being planned for another 2,853 crosswalks.
Pol Gen Damrongsak said the Don’t Drive Drunk Foundation and Viriyah Insurance had launched a campaign to encourage people to upload or send in videos showing violations of traffic rules from April 11-17. Police would pick the seven best videos, and each would be rewarded with 10,000 baht.
