The news came as the Department of Disaster Prevention & Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) announced its official daily report for the Songkran Seven Days campaign this morning (April 13).
For the 24 hours of April 12, there were five accidents in which five people injured, as follows:
- Muang District: 3 accidents, 3 people injured
- Kathu District: 2 accidents, 2 people injured
- Thalang District: 0 accidents, 0 people injured
However, one of those injured in the accidents in Kathu was that of a Finnish national named by police as Tapto Urpo, 51.
Mr Urpo was struck by a motorbike at 00:10am while stepping out to cross the road near the B-Quick car repair centre near the Jungceylon shopping mall in Patong.
He suffered head injuries and was taken to Patong Hospital, where he remains in care.
Most accidents involved reckless driving and motorbike riders being injured by not wearing helmets, the DDPM-Phuket report noted.
Police reported having issued 1,618 fines for moving violations during Day 2 of the campaign, as follows:
805 Not wearing helmets
44 Operating an unsafe/illegally modified motorcycle
35 Drunk driving
74 Not wearing seatbelts
386 Driving without a license
61 Speeding
44 Running a red light
37 Ghost driving (driving opposite traffic flow)
7 Dangerously cutting off other motorists in traffic
26 Using mobile phones while driving.