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Alcohol ad ban, public-service probation terms planned to cut Chonburi Songkran road carnage
Police set up traffic
check-points before Songkran in front of the Royal Garden Plaza.
Jetsada Homklin
Chonburi has outlawed the promotion of alcohol, beer or
cigarettes at Songkran festival sites as the province bolsters efforts
to reduce Thai New Year road carnage totals.
Gov. Khomsan Ekachai presided over an April 4 meeting with the Chonburi
Accident Prevention and Reduction Center, urging all government agencies
to assign workers to prepare campaigns to prevent and reduce accidents.
Only 15 accidents - resulting in one death and 19 injuries - officially
were reported in Chonburi during the 2013 Songkran. But each year brings
hundreds of deaths across the kingdom as drunken revelers drive
motorbikes and throw water at moving vehicles to celebrate Songkran. The
government takes additional steps each year, such as banning alcohol
sales at gas stations, but the death toll still remains embarrassingly
high.
This year, Chonburi wants to promote a cleaner, safer holiday by
preventing promotion or advertising of alcohol, beer or cigarettes in
officially designated water-throwing zones and festivals. Legal action
was promised against those breaking the ban.
In addition, Khomsan said, government agencies must inform employees to
maintain discipline and adhere to traffic rules to set examples for the
public.
In Pattaya, traffic Maj. Col. Jetsadawti Inthrapraphan said the city
will run a campaign to enforce the wearing of helmets and avoidance of
alcohol use while driving.
As was the case last year, however, fines and arrests will be curtailed,
focusing more on education. Instead of jailing drunk drivers and other
law breakers, police will impose probation terms coupled with community
service. The reasoning behind the lowering of penalties is to decrease
fear of authorities among the public, police said.
Drunk drives will be placed on probation for up to two years, performing
up to 48 hours of public service and require check-ins with probation
officers up to four times. Those caught by police will have to work in
such places as the Poh Teck Tung Foundation, which assists victims of
drunk drivers at Chulalongkorn Hospital and Police Hospital.
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