[Watch] To Curb Drunk Driving Accidents, Thailand Gives Drunk Drivers A Tour Of The Morgue

Forgetting community services, in a novel method to curb road accidents, drunken drivers in Thailand are being forced to tour morgues. The rationale behind this is that after having seen the reality of this place they will not drink and drive again.

It is to be noted that Thailand is the second worst country in the world in terms of road fatalities. Last year at least 11 370 people were killed on the roads in Thailand. TV campaigns have made little difference in the ground reality. It is useless to beg for one’s life from a drunk driver who has little control over the steering wheel.

Hence, Thai authorities are turning to shock tactics. A drunk driver confesses, “we might think that we are okay, not drunk, but we are so drunk we cannot drive and if there is an accident we could end up in a hospital trolley as a specimen.” There is a man who was confined to a wheel chair at the age of 19 when a drunk driver hit his car. Such a victim is of the opinion that Thailand must enforce laws more strictly – “serious law enforcement is very good [for drunk drivers]”

17,00 drunk drivers have taken the tour since April this year. However, the efficacy of this method remains to be seen – only time will tell if there is any curb in the menace of drunk driving accidents.

The Logical Indian team hopes that the new approach in Thailand succeeds. May be then it can be tried in India, too. After all, The Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD) report in 2011 revealed that there are about 1.34 lakh fatalities in road accidents every year, a vast 70 per cent of them being due to drunken driving.