Government urged to make road safety national policy

BANGKOK, Nov 19 (TNA) -- More than 20,000 people died yearly because of road accidents in Thailand while the government is urged on Sunday to declare measures to lower the accident a national policy. Doctor Taejing Siripanich, secretary-general of Don’t Drive Drunk Foundation, said some 1.3 million people died and 50 million injured and crippled worldwide yearly from road accidents. Most of the victims are aged between 15-29. In Thailand, Dr Taejing said 22,356 persons perished last year while it is not concluded yet how many people died so far this year. But it is estimated that the number of road victims have increased between 30-40 per cent in 2017 from last year, he said. The main reason that the number of road accidents did not decrease in Thailand because most Thais consider that road accident is the responsibility of the government to resolve while in fact it is the duty of everybody, said Dr Taejing. He urged the Thai government to immediately implement five measures including making road accident prevention a major policy, to strictly enforce traffic and related laws, impose severe punishment on drunken drivers, and to teach road safety a lesson at all level of education. Dr Taejing’s remarks were made as the Bangkok-based UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation jointly organised the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims at the former office. (TNA)