By D. Arul Rajoo, Bernama,
Bangkok : The traditional Thai new year celebration, widely known as the Songkran water festival, continues to be a traffic nightmare for the authorities as 180 people were killed on the road in the first three days.
The Road Safety Centre said that on Sunday alone, 76 deaths and 1,103 injuries were recorded from 1,108 accidents throughout of the country, mostly involving motorcycles.
The number one cause of the accidents was driving while under the influence of alcohol, as well as speeding, the centre said.
Since Friday when hundreds of thousands of people started their journey to their home towns or holiday resorts throughout the country, authorities have reported total of 2,514 injuries from 2,238 accidents.
There were also many cases of injuries after drivers or motorcyclists lost control of their vehicles when people splashed water on them.
This prompted Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to propose that people who caused such accidents be arrested and charged.
Last year, more than 400 people died in road accidents during the 10-day holiday period, most of them related to alcohol consumption, but the number fell from the 476 deaths reported in 2006 and 522 in 2005.
The Songkran festival is widely celebrated by mainly Buddhists in the Kingdom of 63 million, as well as thousands of tourists and expats living in the country who took the opportunity to cool themselves by splashing water in the scorching hot weather.
Besides road accidents, authorities also reported many thefts and pick-pocket cases involving tourists in places such as Khao San Road, Rajdamnoen Nok and Sukhumvit Road where foreigners and locals joined the three-day water splashing celebrations.