Songkran Water Festival is Thailand’s traditional New Year’s Day. Due Buddhism is the state religion of this country, so Songkran New Year is celebrated on the first day of the year according to the Buddhist calendar (corresponding to April 13-15 according to the solar calendar). This regulation was started in 1941 Issued by the Thai Royal Family.
The 2024 Songkran Water Festival, officially from April 11 to now, is currently attracting a large number of visitors travel internationally to experience. This year the festival still takes place within 7 days with a series of notable activities such as a beauty pageant parade with many traditional rituals.
Media Thailand also calls the 7 days of the festival “7 dangerous days” because along with it there are accidents traffic causes a sudden increase in casualties.
According to the latest statistics As reported by the Bangkok Post, this year’s festival recorded 243 people killed and nearly 2,000 injured in just 6 days of the holiday.
In which, the northernmost province of Chiang Rai has the highest number of accidents. (71 cases) and the highest number of deaths (15 people).
Also at Another northern province, Phrae, recorded the highest number of injuries (68 people). Only 9 out of 77 provinces and cities in Thailand had no deaths due to traffic accidents during the Thai New Year festival.
Only on April 16, this country had 242 deaths. Traffic accident left 32 people dead and 237 injured. The main cause is still speeding by vehicle drivers, accounting for 37 6% of accidents. The next cause is drinking alcohol while driving (accounting for 23% 9%).
Ruangsak Suwaree, Director of the Thai Probation Department, said that in addition to accidents, the number of traffic violations has also increased. high and reached 5,786 cases, of which 96% were due to drinking and driving. Bangkok is the place with the most drink driving violations among provinces and cities.
On December 6, 2023, UNESCO recorded Songkran – Thailand’s traditional New Year’s Festival in its list. Book of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This recognition emphasizes the significance of Songkran as a cultural practice expressing important social values and traditions.
In addition to activities during the major festival, Thailand also implements more tourist-friendly policies such as visa exemption, value-added tax refund, new health insurance program for international visitors with the highest payout up to 1 million baht.
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