Road Accident Statistics for Songkran in Thailand 2007-2013

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The Thai government has designated the “Seven Dangerous Days of Songkran” as being from Thursday 11th April to Wednesday 17th April 2013. During Songkran, most people either go to visit their parents upcountry or take their families on a holiday. As there are a lot of people on the roads, 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 seatbelt 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.

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 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. (31.73%) followed by 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. (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.

## I will update statistics for 2013 here as soon as the Songkran holidays are over. In the meantime, click here to see daily updates ##

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 2007: 361 deaths, 4,805 injuries and 4,274 accidents
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
Songkran 2013: 321 deaths, 3,040 injuries and 2,828 accidents

During Songkran, I will be update major incidents and accident statistics on @191Thailand and summarize here on my blog RichardBarrow.com

10 thoughts on “Road Accident Statistics for Songkran in Thailand 2007-2013

  • January 25, 2015 at 8:19 am
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    you heartless people are talking like your at a betting shop . theses are people with family . you need get a life

    Reply
  • April 18, 2013 at 1:07 pm
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    any website that can see 7 days crash data from 11 to 17 April, please share

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    • April 18, 2013 at 1:10 pm
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      I am translating the data every day on my blog. Click here to see latest update.

      Reply
  • April 18, 2013 at 12:58 pm
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    Thanks for keeping this information up for the years. Great to have one easy place to find them and compare year over year.

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  • April 12, 2013 at 10:22 am
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    Here they write different number?

    “The Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand (EMIT) states that the total number of people who died or were injured due to road traffic accidents over the Songkran holiday last year, in a span of just seven days between April 11 and 17, was 27,881.” Nation

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    • April 18, 2013 at 12:57 pm
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      That figure is probably not correct. MR. Barrow is using the official numbers reported daily and then totaled for the week. Even if you were to add deaths that happened later (usually about 40% more than on scene). you’d have to say 8 times the number of people reported injured on that day later went to the hospital on their own after refusing medical attention. I think it more likely there was a typo which is common in the local press when it comes to numbers.

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      • April 18, 2013 at 1:04 pm
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        John, this year for the first time I have seen them add deaths to the stats that happened a day later. For example, two people injured on day one this year died the next day. Their deaths were added to the final total. The same thing happened the next day. From what I understood before, only deaths on scene were counted.

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    • April 18, 2013 at 1:02 pm
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      Do you really trust The Nation to get their figures correct? Mine is direct from the Road Safety Center. This is the same source that all Thai media use.

      Reply
  • April 10, 2013 at 4:53 am
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    I still would like to know the specific crteria to be a Songran death, And what of those that later die of injuries that occur during the 7 days?

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    • April 10, 2013 at 5:59 am
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      A Songkran death is obviously one that occurs during the 7 designated days. To count the person has to die at scene or at least within the same day.

      Reply

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