The campaign was decided on at a meeting of the Phuket Road Safety Committee at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Center Region 18 headquarters in Phuket Town on Thursday (Nov 4).
Chairing the meeting was Phuket Provincial Office Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) Anuphap Rodkwan Yodrabum, joined by DDPM Phuket Chief Udomphon Kan and other committee members.
Mr Anuphap explained that the aim of the meeting was to follow up on the work preventing and reducing road accidents in Phuket.
“Especially during long holidays,” he said.
“Due to the fact that Phuket Province is more relaxed in the requirements for entering the province, more people are travelling to Phuket. In addition, the government has announced the opening of the country on November 1,” Mr Anuphap said.
“This will cause the number of vehicles on the roads to increase, so there must be preparation in the matter of road safety,” he noted.
Of all the strategies to decide on, the committee resolved to have 17 vinyl banners printed up and distributed to the 17 local administrations and municipalities across the island to display in a prominent place in their area.
“The local authorities are to install these in an area where local people and car users can easily see from the road, and will publicize the message for people to exercise more caution [when driving],” Mr Anuphap said.
As for the “risk points”, better known as traffic accident “black spots” in each area across the island, “the relevant agencies have accelerated the solution to the problem”, he added.
Of note, just hours earlier that same day a driver fell asleep at the wheel and slammed his car into a street lamp pole at theTha Reua U-turn. The accident occurred at the same location where on Monday a couple from Pa Khlok were injured when the driver of their pickup truck fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into a power pole.
According to the Thai Road Safety Committee (ThaiRSC), Phuket so far this year ‒ even with relatively very few tourists ‒ has recorded 62 deaths and 10,652 people injured in 10,715 accidents across the island.
Last year, Phuket recorded 106 deaths and 16,859 people injured in 16,965 accidents on the island’s roads.
Nationwide, 11,131 people have died and a further 722,882 people have been injured in road accidents so far this year.