Thailand keen on reducing road fatalities

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BANGKOK, 12 December 2013 Thailand is determined to cut road fatalities down by 50 percent by the year 2020, making road safety a national agenda. 

Presiding over the opening of an international conference held in BITEC, Deputy Permanent-Secretary of Interior Ministry M.L. Panadda Diskul said Thailand, as a member of the United Nations (UN), needed to push harder in promoting road safety in a bid to lower the number of casualties caused by road accidents.

Thailand is targeting a 50 percent drop in road fatalities by the year 2020. As the cabinet has approved the idea of making 2011-2020 a decade of road safety, the country is set to promote road safety as a national agenda to raise awareness of the issue. The prime objective is to cut the nation’s mortality rate to under 10 people for every 100,000 population, The Deputy Permanent-Secretary said.

Measures to tackle road accidents include requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets while riding and discouraging all motorists from speeding and driving when under the influence, according to the Road Safety Directing Center.