PHUKET: Efforts to make the Songkran New Year water festival saner are likely to be ignored by most people on Phuket next week - as they are every year.

On the other hand, efforts to make the water festival safer deserve support and enforcement.

Police will campaign nationwide to reduce the road toll, concentrating on alcohol and the connection between drunken driving and riding and needless deaths and injuries.

But it's hard to imagine that pickups carrying revellers and engaging in water fights will not be seen as usual on Phuket's roads and throughout Thailand.

Will Phuket police caution or arrest every kid with a hose or a bucket, doing just what his or her parents and their parents have done at Songkran? No likely.

Bans on alcohol in Phuket's Soi Bangla on April 12 and April 13 will probably be as successful as they always are: in other words, nothing is likely to change.

The usual restrictions on sexual harassment, dye in powder and ice being used will be obeyed by some, and ignored by many.

Waterplay zones for Phuket have been declared as follows: Saphan Hin Park; Kata-Karon beachfront; Soi Bangla and Patong beach road; Kamala Park; Surin Beach and Sirinath National Park.

Police road safety checkpoints will be operating in these spots in the Seven Days of Danger, April 11-17:


Isuzu dealership on Thepkasattri Road northbound, near Khor Kaew Soi 33
Vichit Council offices on Chao Fa West Road
Ake Anda village on Chao Fa West Road
Ramada Hotel on Patak Road, Karon
Bangchak gas station, Viset Road
Big C on the bypass road


Patong Hill Hotel intersection on Sirirat Road
Prabaramee Road, near Tungthong Police Station
Kalim intersection on Prabaramee Road
Near Ket Ho intersection on Wichit Songkram Road


Tachatchai checkpoint
Cherng Talay Council Offices on Srisoonthorn Road
Tah Reua Police Box on Tepkrasattri Road southbound, near Heroines' Monument
Tesco Lotus, Cherng Talay
Paklok Council offices