Thailand hopes holy sour candy will stop road accidents

AFP, April, 2007

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thai police on Monday started distributing "super sour" sweets blessed by a Buddhist abbot in the hope of curbing road accidents by keeping motorists awake with the lip-puckering treats.

Police began distributing 140,000 of the hard sweets ahead of the Buddhist New Year celebrations that run over five days starting Friday.

It's the most important holiday and biggest party time in Thailand, but also a time of carnage on the highways due to the heavy incidence of drunk driving.

An abbot in the southern province of Prachaup Khiri Khan donated 200,000 baht (5,700 dollars) to make 140,000 packets of sweets to give to drivers nationwide.

On Saturday, 2,999 monks gathered at a ...