56 killed, 635 injured in road accidents on 1st 'dangerous day'
Wed, Dec 31, 2008
The Nation/Asia News Network
>A total of 596 road accidents occurred on the first of 'seven dangerous New Year holidays' Tuesday, killing 56 people and injuring 635 others, a senior government announced Wednesday.
Surachai Tharasitpong, permanent secretary for Transport Ministry, held a press conference at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, the Interior Ministry, to announce the statistics of the first day of the seven-day road accident monitoring period.
He said the number of accidents was 156 higher than that of the first day of the monitoring period for New Year holidays last year. And the death toll increased by 23 while the number of injured people was 157 higher.
He said most accidents or 38.26 per cent were caused by drunk driving.
Phitsanulok had the highest death toll of 4, followed by Bnagkok, Chainat, Chaiyaphum, Amnat Charoen and Chiang Rai, each of 3 deaths.
