The Vientiane Traffic Police Department will be maintaining a booth to advertise the importance of road safety at the That Luang festival celebrations in a bid to stem the rising number of accidents.
The booth will be manned from November 12-14, located in front of the National Assembly. The aim of the initiative is to promote order on the roads and reduce the number of accidents during the That Luang Festival.
Deputy Chief of Vientiane Traffic Police Department, Major Sangkhom Phommalath reported that every year, the department cooperates with private companies to open booths and inform festival goers about the traffic regulations, aiming to reduce deaths, injuries and accidents.
“Last year, we organised the booth at the Lao ITECC because the site of the festival was not convenient but this year we moved to the That Luang festival site again,” Major Sangkhom said.
The booth will have many features to highlight road safety issues, including accident photos and information and awareness booklets, he explained.
Officers on duty at the booth will also offer question and answer sessions.
They will be giving away prizes to people who visit the traffic safety booth, including shirts, stickers, jackets, umbrellas, pens, road safety handbooks and helmets, to those who can correctly answer questions about the traffic regulations.
Major Sangkhom Phommalath said last year the police booth received interest from the people because they organised many activities and were giving away prizes to the visitors.
However, despite the safety awareness efforts, the congestion of last year’s That Luang Festival resulted in a larger than usual number of accidents.
According to Vientiane Traffic Police Department,
during last year’s That Luang festival from November 19- 25, 2015, some 19 road accidents occurred in the capital, resulting in four fatalities.
Of those involved in accidents, nine were slightly injured, 18 were seriously injured and four were critical.
The majority of victims were workers and students while most of the accidents were recorded in the districts of Xaythany, Xaysettha, and Chanthabouly, Vientiane. Most accidents involved motorcycles.
This year, in order to prevent accidents and reduce traffic congestion police also stationed 400 police officers on duty at 81 police posts in the capital. The police will be stationed within the festival area and on standby to deal with any road accidents.
However, road users should be pay attention to the traffic regulations and obey the instructions of police officers to minimise congestion and road accidents.
Source: Vientiane Times