The four deaths were confirmed by a report posted by the Phuket Provincial Office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket), and by the cumulative tally maintained by the national road safety agency ThaiRSC.
DDPM-Phuket and ThaiRSC both also reported 53 people injured in road accidents on the island yesterday.
Phuket whizzed by the 100-deaths milestone just one day before Phuket officials today held yet another meeting focussing on strategies to improve road safety on the island.
Headlining the meeting, held at Phuket Rajabhat University, were Phuket Vice Governor Anupap Rodkhwan Yodrambam, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pol Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong and DDPM-Phuket Chief Udomporn Kan, who serves as secretary and committee member of the Phuket Provincial Road Safety Administration Center.
Also present were a host of police officers, transport officials, highways and rural road officers, rescue workers and other people from agencies and organisations involved in road safety and responding to road accidents.
The meeting was held as “training to help analyse the causes of road accidents in Phuket, in order to drive the prevention and resolution of road accidents in Phuket Province to be reduced”.
According to an official report of the meeting, Mr Udomporn said that over the years 2017-2022, Phuket saw an average of 135 deaths from road accidents per year, which he equated to an average of 11 people per month.
“But the situation is likely to become more serious,” he said.
Of note, in 2019 ‒ the most recent year with comparable tourism arrival numbers before the COVID-19 pandemic ‒ the island saw 92 people killed and 9,365 injured on Phuket’s roads.
So far already this year 15,033 people have received hospital treatment for injuries sustained in road accidents in Phuket.
Regardless, Mr Udomporn pointed out that from January through August 2023, there were 119 deaths on Phuket’s roads, equivalent to a rate of 42.20 per 100,000 population.
“In comparison, during the same period in 2022, there were 81 deaths, an increase of 38, or 46%, with an average of 15 deaths per month,” Mr Udomporn said, according to the report.
“Therefore, it is very necessary that a working group analyses the causes of road accidents. of Phuket Province,” Mr Udomporn added.
“Accident data must be analysed to solve problems and reduce risk factors including driver behaviour, vehicles, roads and the environment, to reflect real facts about road accidents in the area,” he said.
“The Provincial Road Safety Administration Center, the District Safety Operations Center and road safety operations centres of local government organisations had set policy measures and guidelines for preventing and reducing road accidents in Phuket Province to see concrete results,” Mr Udormporn continued.
The official report of the meeting today gave no details of any new strategies revealed, but the previous meeting of the Provincial Road Safety Administration Committee last month saw a slew of new road-safety initiatives announced.
Among the new initiatives was that DDPM-Phuket is to create a map to be handed out to tourists highlighting the main roads across the island and the locations of the “high risk” points. The map is to be featured in three languages.
Meanwhile, Mr Udomporn today maintained the official mantra: “Driving the analysis to find the causes of road accidents in Phuket Province must be covered at the provincial, district and local levels as guidelines for preventing and solving road accidents in Phuket Province, and continues to be taken seriously.”
No mention of the map highlighting the ‘black spots’ on Phuket’s roads was made in the official report today.