About 10 members of the Friends on Streets group rally at Government House yesterday. They called for the govenment to take steps to solve the problem of rising road accidents and not to increase the load limit of the 10-wheel trucks beyond 26 tonnes. - Apichit Jinakul

Long-term strategy gets cabinet approval

Plan focuses on strict law enforcement

Cabinet has endorsed a strategic plan to reduce road accidents in the long term following the failure of its Songkran road safety campaign.

The plan, proposed by the road safety committee, calls for strict enforcement of traffic laws, increased efforts to raise public awareness of the need to help boost road safety, and efficient emergency medical services.

The committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng, has been assigned to work out detailed measures for implementation set to begin on May 1. Under the plan, police and the Land Transport Department will strictly enforce the laws concerning speed limits, wearing of crash helmets, and drunk driving.

Meanwhile, the state media will be asked to help promote road safety awareness, and a programme will be launched to teach students and workers about traffic laws. In the area of emergency services, the Public Health Ministry has been assigned to improve training of health workers to be more competent in the handling and treatment of injured victims of road accidents.

The government wanted to cut the death toll from road accidents during this year's Songkran holiday by 20% from last year's figure of 567. It failed, however, as the statistics showed 594 deaths and 39,725 injuries from road accidents in the period from 12am on April 11 to 12pm on April 16.