New Years Long Holiday Weekend

[Guest wowpow]

Monday and Tuesday are public holidays so it's a long weekend of celebrations ahead. Wise ones may stock up with a bit of cash as ATM's will be hard hit and banks closed. Still there seems a lot of ATM's around these days.

 

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The inevitable road carnage begins:

 

TNA) - Road accidents 41 people dead and 540 injured on the first day of the seven-day New Year traffic alert period, according to the Road Safety Centre (RSC).

 

Thailand has designated the week from Dec 28 through Jan 3 as the most dangerous period. People living in Bangkok travel to the provinces to celebrate the New Year holiday and a high number of road accidents normally occur every year during the peak travel period.

 

full article http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=115582

 

[Guest wowpow]

Drive safely into the new year

 

Highway police acted commendably this week by listing and publicising known accident black spots on major highways throughout the nation. They hope that responsible drivers will now approach these danger zones cautiously over the long New Year weekend. The harsh reality, though, is that seasonal celebrations all too often trigger a degree of carefree irresponsibility which turn our highways into disaster zones. That is why up to 100,000 police and emergency service personnel will not be celebrating New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with their families and friends, but will be deployed across the country to stop those with a subconscious death wish from taking others with them.http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/30Dec2006_news17.php

 

But police spokesman Lt-Gen Achirawit Supanphesat says that police will be lenient with sober drivers who transgress and the guidelines are only to issue tickets to motorists caught breaking drink-driving laws. There is a danger that this display of seasonal goodwill could turn out to be misplaced. Last year police got tough and managed to reduce the highway death toll over the New Year period from 628 in 2004 to 393, and they should be free to use whatever measures they deem necessary to reduce it further. The best policy is surely one of treating all offenders with zero tolerance.

 

Remember that even outside holiday periods, an average of 36 people are killed daily on streets and highways, giving us the unwelcome ranking of sixth in the world in road fatalities. The cost of this carnage in purely financial terms is simply staggering _ 12 million baht an hour and rising. But what truly defies measurement is the cost in human suffering. The children who lose their lives or have been orphaned and whole families wiped out because of a moment's thoughtlessness. Rare is the person among us who has not lost a friend or loved one in a tragic road accident.

 

Research by the Department of Medical Sciences shows that more than 50% of traffic accidents are caused by drunk driving and that figure could be a conservative one. But it would be wrong only to point the finger at irresponsible drivers who drink.

 

Full article http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/30Dec2006_news17.php

[Guest wowpow]

Briton killed in Pattaya road accident

Pattaya - A Briton was killed early Saturday morning when his motorcycle was rammed into by a car allegedly driven by a Norwegian.

 

Police identified the Briton as Jimmy Hassim, 52 and the Norwegian as Hans Bjorger Mobraten, 58.

 

The accident happened at 20 minutes past midnight on Thappaya Road leading to Jomthien Beach.

 

Police said while Hassim was turning into the road to Jomthien Beach, his motorcycle was hit by the speeding car being driven by the Norwegian.

 

Police said the Norwegian would not stop but continued to head to Pattaya but he was stopped later at a road checkpoint.

 

Police said the Norwegian man appeared drunk.

 

The Nation