Updated

To help combat the carnage on the country's roads during this week's traditional New Year's holiday celebration, Thai authorities are going gory: Drunk drivers and repeat traffic offenders can be sent to work in hospital morgues to see the fruits of their irresponsibility.

Casual attitudes toward road safety give Thailand the second worst record in the world for traffic fatalities, and health and safety experts fear the situation may be getting worse.

Anurak Amornpetchsathaporn, director of the emergency response for the Bureau of Public Health, says a court-approved stint cleaning up and transporting bodies in hospital morgues should bring home the pain to reckless drivers in a way that community service such as tidying up parks has failed to do.