Amid an uncertain economic climate, Thailand’s 66 million inhabitants
have began celebrating the Thai New Year. Authorities are taking steps
to clamp down on the vigour of water fights and the accompanying
seasonal spike in road fatalities, while spending by revellers is
forecast to increase by its lowest amount in five yeas.Songkran in
Thailand takes place during the hottest time of the year. It is best
associated internationally with wild city blocks-long street water
fights. Domestically though it is tagged with the title of “the seven
dangerous days” due to the high number of road fatalities that accompany
the mass migration of people back to their ancestral villagers to
celebrate the new year.
Based on 2010 figures the World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks Thailand
as having the third deadliest roads in the world with 38.1 deaths per
one hundred thousand population, with this number skyrocketing to 92.4
per 100,000 motor vehicles. In a 2014 study by the University of
Michigan Transportation Research Institute found that Thailand’s roads
are the most deadly in Southeast Asia with 44 deaths per 100,000
population
