Songkran 2015 Water Battle in Pattaya, Thailand
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 -
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