Legislative actions
| DOI | 10.1177/1461355715582969 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| Author | Yingyos Leechaianan,Seksan Khruakham,Pongpat Chayapan |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Legislative actions: The impact of
the 2007 Road Traffic Act on driving
under the inf luence of alcohol (DUI)
accidents in Thailand
Yingyos Leechaianan
INTERPOL National Centre Bureau, Bangkok, Thailand
Pongpat Chayapan
Institute of Modern Policing, Bangkok, Thailand
Seksan Khruakham
Royal Thai Police Cadet Academy, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Abstract
Injuries and deaths resulting from driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) have become a major problem in Thailand.
Specifically, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that Thailand’s road-traffic death rate (per 100,000) was
ranked third of 182 countries in 2013. To date, no research has examined whether the 2007 Road Traffic Act (RTA)
has had a significant impact on DUI accidents since it was enacted. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to
evaluate the impact of the 2007 RTA on DUI accident rates in Thailand. Using monthly DUI accident figures from
2005 to 2010 obtained from the Police Information and Technology Centre, the results from an interrupted time
series design are used to indicate whether the new RTA is more effective than the previous Act in preventing drug-
and alcohol-related accidents in Thailand. The results supported the effectiveness of the 2007 RTA, but only in Region
10 (Bangkok), Region 1 (Nonthaburi) and Region 3 (Nakhon Ratchasima). However, it is important to highlight that
even though the 2007 RTA was statistically significant in only three regions, the number of DUI accidents decreased in
all 10 regions. Suggestions for future research are also provided.
Keywords
Deterrence, DUI, interrupted time series, ARIMA, accidents
Submitted 11 May 2014, accepted 10 Mar 2015
Introduction
Alcohol consumption has been prevalent in Thailand
since the immigration of diverse people into Thailand
began in 1782 (Thamarangsi, 2006). The World Health
Organization (WHO) has indicated that annual alcohol
consumption among Thai adults has shown a dramatic per
capita increase, from 0.26 litres in 1961 to 8.47 litres in
2001 (WHO, 2006 as cited in Thamarangsi, 2006).
1
Drunk-driving among Thai people is common, particu-
larly at night; with the prevalence of high blood alcohol
concentrations (BAC) (i.e. > 50 mg/dl) being noticeably
higher than in other countries such as Denmark, Germany,
France, Finland, Norway and Sweden (Chongsuvivat-
wong et al., 1999). The combination of drunk-driving,
poor visibility and poor rescue facilities increases the
Corresponding author:
Yingyos Leechaianan, INTERPOL National Centre Bureau for Thailand,
146 Phitsanuloak Road, Dusit, Bangkok, 10300, Thailand.
Email: yingyos.leechaianan@gmail.com
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
2015, Vol. 17(2) 104–116
ªThe Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/1461355715582969
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