BANGKOK, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Road accidents during the Songkran festival have claimed 390 lives, with drunk driving remaining the major killer, Thailand's road safety center said on Tuesday.
According to the Road Safety Directing Center of the Interior Ministry, there are totally 3,690 accidents from the water splashing festival from April 11 to 17, also causing 3,808 injuries.
The death toll was down by almost 17 percent while the number of injuries and crashes rose compared to the same period during the previous Songkran when 338 deaths and 2,891 injuries were reported in 2,724 road accidents, local reports said.
Authorities said most of the accidents stemmed from drunk driving (1,589 cases), followed by 1,028 speeding cases while reckless cutting in front of other cars also contributed 547 cases.
A government spokesman said on Monday that the number of vehicles impounded from drunk drivers in this Songkran festival soared compared with last year's figures, adding that from April 12 to 16, authorities seized 6,544 vehicles from drink drivers.
During the Songkran road safety campaigns last year, authorities impounded 4,609 vehicles from drunk drivers, 75.7 percent of which were motorcycles.
