The ultimate squirt gun. Elephants spray revellers as Songkran gets under way in Ayutthaya yesterday.

As many opted for private vehicles, the northbound eastern outer ring road saw heavy traffic congestion, while highway police warned that many roads this evening might be paralysed due to the number of vehicles.

With Mor Chit bus terminal filled with crowds, Wutthichart Kalayanamitr, acting manager of the Transport Company, said that about 40 per cent of an estimated 1.5 million passengers had returned to their hometowns. This was 200,000 fewer passengers than last year, thanks to cheaper oil prices leading many people to use their cars, he said.

Today will see the most travellers - some 180,000 people - and 8,000 bus trips will ensure none are left behind. Some 150 policemen and dogs will patrol the city's transport hubs.

Thai Airways (THAI) has added 24 more domestic flights, especially to Chiang Mai and Phuket, from today until Tuesday.

Officials at Hua Lamphong railway station estimated that up to 120,000 people went upcountry by train yesterday. Two more trains were added to Ubol Ratchathani and one more to Udon Thani.

Today, it is expected that up to 130,000 will travel, with five more trains being added: one to Sila-art, one to Udon Thani and three to Ubol Ratchathani.

This evening, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and Transport Minister Admiral Theera Haocharoen are scheduled to inspect security at the station.

In Nakhon Ratchasima, the gateway to the Northeast, the Mitraparp Highway saw heavy traffic yesterday as many tried to make the journey home ahead of Songkran, while Nakhon Sawan also saw more cars on Paholyothin Road.

Expecting that most people will travel this evening, Highway Police Deputy Commander General Loy Ingkapairoj urged motorists to have enough rest, check their vehicles and avoid alcohol.

He urged them not to travel during dusk when visibility is limited, as most accidents occurred about 6pm, and warned of 96 risky spots on highways to the North and Northeast.

As the government aims to reduce road accidents by 15 per cent during the seven dangerous days of the Songkran holiday, many provinces launched measures and announced their targets to reduce road accidents.

The Education Ministry organised for 10,000 technical college students to check cars and fix vehicles at major petrol stations in Greater Bangkok.

Nakhon Ratchasima's Maharat Hospital prepared five surgical teams and stockpiled more blood to its current 300-unit blood bank in preparation for accidents.

With 54 checkpoints to catch traffic offenders, Kalasin is aiming for fewer than four deaths and 58 injuries.

Chiang Mai opened a public transport passenger protection centre to check the condition of buses and drivers' alcohol consumption, as well as installing 24 closed-circuit cameras around its bus terminal.

Lampang province, which has opened a road accident centre in Thoen, has set a quota of no more than five deaths and 68 injuries over the holiday.

Down south, Songkhla is targeting no more than nine deaths and 106 injuries, while Phuket hopes to achieve fewer than three deaths and 39 injuries.

However, in Trang's Muang district, a road accident yesterday at 4.30am almost filled the province's quota of four deaths and 55 injuries, as three people were killed and two injured when a speeding pickup truck crashed into a motorcycle.

Truck driver Apinant Phanrod, 28, who died on the way to hospital, was reportedly driving while drunk and lost control of the truck, which rammed into a road island before flipping across to another lane and crashing into the motorcycle, whose owner Jom Lomkhog, 50, and wife Pongporn Jampapeep, 35, died instantly.

In Buri Ram's Phutthaisong district, 29 people were injured when an empty bus heading from Yasothon to pick up passengers in Bangkok collided with a six-wheel truck carrying people to a merit-making fair yesterday at 9.30am.

In Chachoengsao's Ban Pho district, aluminium chlorohydrate was spilled over a several-hundred-metre stretch of the Chachoengsao-Bang Prakong Road, causing several motorcyclists to skid and crash since Tuesday night.