Phuket suffers five injured, no deaths on Day 1 of Songkran ‘Seven Days’ campaign

PHUKET: Phuket began the first day of the Seven Days of Danger road-safety campaign for Songkran 2022 with five people injured, but no deaths, Udomphon Kan, head of the Phuket Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office (DDPM-Phuket), reported today (Apr 12).

The news came at the traditional morning briefing at Provincial Hall, today chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong.

Mr Udomphon explained that Phuket officials recorded five people injured in five accidents on Day 1 of the campaign, from midnight to midnight yesterday (Monday, Apr 11).

Of the five injured, three were male and two were female, he said.

As for the efforts by police to increase road safety, officers levied the most fines during Day 1 for people not wearing a helmet riding a motorbike, followed by people driving without a licence, people not wearing a seatbelt, followed by people ignoring traffic signals, Mr Udomphon said.

Vice Governor Pichet said that he had emphasized that all checkpoints should strictly follow the measures set out for the road-safety campaign, especially regarding drunk drivers, in order to prevent accidents.

V/Gov Pichet also said that officers at all checkpoints were rigorous in their efforts to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, according to a report by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket).

V/Gov Pichet later today inspected operations at Rassada Port (or Rassada Harbour, the facility officially uses both names), as marine transport safety is included under the “Seven Days” campaign.

The port is a popular jump-off point for people travelling to nearby islands.

Activity at the port was reported as “quite lively”, with V/Gov Pichet noting that there were more Thai tourists than foreigners boarding a ferry heading to Phi Phi Island.

Before the Songkran holidays the port saw 60-800 people boarding outbound boats. Songkran is expected to see that number rise to over 1,000 a day, V/Gov Pichet said.

While at the port, V/Gov Pichet led safety inspections of some of the boats to ensure they complied with marine safety requirements, including not overloading with passengers, carrying enough life jackets for all people on board, ensuring there are enough fire extinguishers in approved condition for use and making sure that the boat had radio contact with marine safety officers.