This year's Songkran holidays might have been a bit livelier with return of at least some fanfare and a trickle of foreign tourists, but one thing certainly has continued to put a damper on the festive mood -- the government's grim, if not misguided, obsession with counting road accidents and deaths throughout the holiday period.
As of yesterday, according to data from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, at least 204 people have died in the 1,470 traffic-related accidents reported throughout the Thai New Year holiday since counting began on April 10. The figures, as per usual, were accompanied by a litany of excuses that the public has heard time and time again, at least twice a year -- authorities were quick to point out the majority of the accidents were caused by drunk-driving, driver fatigue and/or speeding.
While those factors without a doubt did contribute to the accidents, nowhere in their bi-annual report did authorities ever acknowledge the fact that these incidents could have been easily prevented with pro-active action on their part.
In fact, nowhere in the reports has the government ever recognised the fact that its persistent failure to address the factors creates a huge window of opportunity for people to keep violating traffic rules. Couple that with the lack of consistent enforcement, and the result is truly a recipe for road carnage.
For instance, about a week before the start of a long-holiday period, traffic officials are assigned to set up checkpoints along main arterial routes, which they claim is part of efforts to curb road accidents and deaths.
But anyone who has passed these checkpoints will know that most of the time, they are nothing more than a sun shelter for police who -- more often than not -- would simply wave cars to pass through at speed, instead of flagging them down for a random breath test or licence check. Of course, it is impossible for authorities to stop people from drinking before they get behind the wheel -- but their task is to prevent wilful lawbreakers from finding a way to do so.
They could have cracked down on venues which serve alcohol to clearly inebriated patrons, for instance. They could have required bike and car rental companies to actually check for licences to stop inexperienced drivers from getting on the road during one of the busiest times in the year.
There are plenty of ways to help reduce the risk posed by drunk drivers, but sitting around socialising under the shade until a supervisor asks for photo evidence of them doing their task, simply won't cut it.
The problem with the current administration (and so many others which came before it) is the utter lack of accountability on behalf of the government. Whether it's road deaths during Songkran and New Year, or the spike in Covid-19 cases at the height of the pandemic, the powers-that-be seem to have a finger ready to point blame at someone else -- and the names on the government's "blame" list are getting longer by the day.
Simply put, it is never their fault. Instead, foreign revellers get the blame for flouting the official "ban" on Songkran water fights, despite the fact the police actually allowed it to happen. Before that, migrant workers from Myanmar copped flak for causing a second wave of Covid-19 outbreaks, despite the fact that these workers wouldn't be in Thailand illegally in the first place had border authorities acted with integrity.
That viral photo of the policemen getting smeared by powder while reminding tourists to respect the rule, for instance, would not have happened if the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) and officials on the ground which are asked to enforce the rule had implemented a workable, and most importantly, consistent plan to prevent revellers from disregarding the rule.
Instead, we saw the CCSA promote the ban, only to be swiftly undermined by the superintendent of Chana Songkhram police, Pol Col Sanong Saengmani, saying his officers "won't strictly enforce the CCSA's ban on water play", arguing many tourists were not aware that the area wasn't officially allowed to host Songkran celebrations.
The government shouldn't be surprised by the very public breach of its rules, as just like water, most people tend to choose the path of least resistance -- and in this case, many people chose to follow Pol Col Sanong's path.
What to do? While officials can't stop all drivers from taking a swig before driving, surely something like guard rails or cats' eyes could be installed at treacherous points of busy roads in popular destinations like Phuket and Chiang Mai. Better markings on rural roads, perhaps? These, arguably, will lead to further improvements in traffic safety, unlike the wasted effort of publicising statistics that really aren't fooling anyone.
