The figures, equating to some 58 injuries a day, are in stark contrast to “official” numbers being freely dissemenated to media nationwide by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM).
The official numbers – used to access the success of the DDPM’s annual tax-funded “Seven Days of Danger” accident prevention campaign – report only 28 injuries in Phuket from April 9-11.
See story here.
But according to data from the TRSC – which collects its data in real time from both public and private sources, including hospitals, rescue workers, police and its own network of roadside informants – the actual number of people injured in Phuket during this annual "dangerous period" surrounding the Thai New Year is a a lot higher, as follows:
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April 9: 49
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April 10: 35
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April 11: 68
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April 12: 63
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April 13: 67
In addition to the above, 72 people were injured on April 8, which is not officially considered as part of the “7 days of Danger”.
It is not clear why DDPM’s injury figures are so low for Phuket, but both the DDPM and TRSC are in agreement that no deaths have occurred on Phuket’s roads in the past week.
The week-long campaign will officially end tomorrow, but without a doubt, as care-free attitudes and lax law-enforcement prevail, the road mayhem will continue on as usual.
So far this year, the TRSC reports a total of 660 accidents in Phuket traffic resulting in 715 injuries and 12 deaths.
Muang district had the most accidents and injuries (483 accidents with 526 injuries or 73 per cent of total) as well as deaths (8 or 66 per cent).
So far in 2015, Thalang has had 83 accidents resulting in four deaths and 82 injuries, while Kathu’s 94 accidents resulted in 107 injuries, but no deaths.
All traffic deaths reported this year in Phuket involved motorcycles; Of the 12 who died, 10 were male.
So far this year in Thailand, there have been 3,464 deaths and 178,604 injuries reported on Thai roads, according to TRSC data.
It should be noted that not all accidents and injuries are reported, by either the DDPM or TRSC, especially when involving undocumented migrant workers, who tend to not be counted.
Moreover, injuries that later result in death at hospital are also not retroactively counted as deaths, meaning, the actual death count from Phuket traffic would likely be higher than reported.
For more comprehensive Phuket traffic and road accident statistics and trends over the past several years, be sure to pick up a copy of The Phuket News’ April 17 edition, out on stands this Friday.
jim1953 | 14 April 2015 - 15:30:46