Surangsri Sritamanot of the Thalang Hospital strategies department revealed the statistic to The Phuket News today (Sept 7).

“We have information for Phuket from three different databases: the government, police, and public health department. From January to April there have been 68 deaths as a result of road accident, in Phuket,” Ms Surangsri said.

“We have not yet combined the statistics from April to September. However, for this year it is predicted to be slightly more than last year, if not around the same.

“Last year, here were 174 deaths as a result of road accident in Phuket,” she said.

The news today follows a road-safety meeting led by Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong in Phuket Town yesterday (Sept 6).

“The number of road accidents in Thailand are increasing. Statistics from the Ministry of Public Health show that on average in each year there are 21,429 people die in road accidents [in Thailand],” Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket) Acting Chief Mongkol Temrat noted at the meeting.

“That is as average of 1,785 people per month, or 59 people every day,” he said.

“Most accidents are caused by drivers speeding, drunk driving and overtaking,” Mr Mongkol added.

Also at the meeting was Dr Wiwat Seetamanotch, Vice President of the Phuket office of the Road Safety Policy Foundation (see website here).

Dr Wiwat in 2015 revealed that Phuket was officially the worst province in the country for deaths and injuries resulting from road accidents. (See story here.)

Also at the meeting was Paitoon Silapawisut, Manager of the Road Accident Victims Protection Co Ltd, which provides insurance coverage to road-accident victims.

“The Thai government has announced road accident prevention as a national agenda, and the campaign includes five strategies: law enforcement, engineering, public relations, emergency medical services and evaluation,” Mr Paitoon said.

“This will help to find a way in protecting and solving road accidents,” he added.