The 'Seven Dangerous Days of Songkran' have been designed for this year by the Thai Government as being from Thursday 11th April to Wednesday 17th April 2013. starting as of tomorrow, it's going to be an even bigger madhouse on the already dangerous Thai roads than it usually is.
Songkran itself is only celebrated on Koh Samui on Saturday 13th April, which for me personally is good enough. This is sharp contrast to other locations like Chiang Mai, Pattaya or Khao San road in Bangkok where the party lasts for a week.
During Songkran most people go upcountry to visit their parents or take their families for a holiday. This in turn makes for busier than usual roads and accidents are inevitable. Most fatal accidents are caused by drunk driving and speeding and take place late afternoon to mid evening. You can cut the chance of being involved in a fatal accident if you wear a helmet on a motorcycle and put on your seat belt in a car. At dusk make sure you turn on lights and at all times keep within speed limits. Most of all, do not drink and drive.
Around the island only twice a year road checks are set up to control for drunk driving, our traditional New Year is one of them and the other time is during Songkran.
Here are the full statistics for accidents during Songkran 2012:
11-17 April 2012: Most accidents were caused by drunk driving (38.76%) followed by speeding (20.53%). The vehicles involved in accidents were motorcycles (81.12%), pick-up trucks (10.03%), car/taxi (3.55%), truck (0.55%), bus (0.30%) and van (.027%). Accidents happened the most on roads through villages (35.18%) and on highways (33.00%). The majority of accident happened on straight roads (57.73%). Most accidents happened between 4pm and 8pm (31.73%) followed by 12pm to 4pm (25.75%). Of those who were injured or were killed, most were over 50 years of age (18.15%), followed by 30-39 years of age (17.13%) and 15-19 years of age (17.08%). A total of 11.00% were less than 15 years old.
Last year there were 320 deaths during the Seven Dangerous Days of Songkran which averages at 45.7 per day. Here is how it has compared over the years:
Songkran 2008: 368 deaths, 4,801 injuries and 4,243 accidents
Songkran 2009: 373 deaths, 4,332 injuries and 3,977 accidents
Songkran 2010: 361 deaths, 3,802 injuries and 3,516 accidents
Songkran 2011: 271 deaths, 3,476 injuries and 3,215 accidents
Songkran 2012: 320 deaths, 3,320 injuries and 3,129 accidents
Some scary statistics and a serious warning not to leave the house for long travels unless really necessary, and drive carefully out there! Wear a helmet and your seat belt, it's a madhouse out there!
Statistics come from Richard Barrow's original post.
Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!
Camille
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