With today (Apr 11) the first day of the campaign, the heightened enforcement of traffic laws began at midnight last night (00.01am Apr 11) and will continue through to midnight Sunday night (23:59pm Apr 17).
Phuket Provincial Police has organised for 11 main checkpoints to be set up across the island, as well as three “secondary checkpoints” and 10 “service points” where motorists can take a break from driving or receive other assistance.
Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew has already urged drivers taking to the roads to return home for the Songkran holidays to celebrate the Thai New Year to drive safely.
The goal is for the island to suffer zero casualties during the holiday period this year.
“One loss is a lot,” Governor Narong told The Phuket News.
Phuket concluded the Seven Days of Danger road safety campaign for Songkran last year with an official tally of one dead and 21 injured.
Nationwide, the official tally during last year’s Songkran holiday period stood at 277 people killed and 2,357 injured in almost 2,400 road accidents, with drink-driving involved in over a third of accidents.