Thailand drunk drivers to work in morgues as the country celebrates water festival
Drunk drivers and repeat traffic offenders in Thailand will be forced to work in hospital morgues as punishment as the country battles with high rates of road deaths.
Thailand’s cabinet approved the potential punishment last week as a harsh deterrent against repeat road offenses ahead of the New Year celebrations where a lot of heavy drinking is expected and thus traffic accidents anticipated as well.
“They [offenders] should see the actual physical and mental damage,” said Anurak Amornpetchsathaporn, emergency response director at Thailand’s Bureau of Public Health, according to The Associate Press.
“In the morgue, they will have to be cleaning up and transporting bodies, so that hopefully they would feel the pain, so that they may understand and attain a good conscience, so that it [they] could be safer on the roads,” he added
Thailand reports that over 14,000 people in the country died from road accidents last year, but WHO estimates put the figure closer to 24,000. Thailand is ranked second in the world for the highest road deaths and number one in Asia according to Thailand’s Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn
Thailand’s ‘Seven Dangerous Days’ the name coined for Songkran Festival which is Thai New Year celebrations that started Wednesday and ends Friday, fuelled by a lot of drinking and high number of road accidents during the period. Celebrations extend past the three day public holiday. In 2015, at least 364 people died and more than 3500 people were injured.
More than a million people are expected to travel across Thailand and over 495,000 tourists expected to visit the country according to Thailand’s Tourism Minister, Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul.
According to Reuters Thailand will generate over 428.08 million dollars in the Songkran festivals. Referred as the world’s biggest water fight, government authorities are calling for restraint during the festival to conserve water since the country is facing its worst drought in decades.
