The renewed enforcement of traffic laws will focus only on education, with no fines being imposed yet, according to Touch Sokhak, deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, on Tuesday, 25 November.
Traffic police suspended their activities during the recent border conflict with Thailand, as the government opted to allocate resources to the ongoing tensions with the neighbouring kingdom. During this period, Cambodia saw a sharp rise in accidents.
From August 25 to September 30, accidents rose significantly compared to the same period before the suspension, with the total number of recorded crashes up 17 per cent. Fatalities grew by 22 per cent, to 50, while 154 people were injured, an increase of 33 per cent.
Speed was attributed as the major cause, with half of all accidents, while a failure to respect the right of way and driving on the wrong side of the road accounted for 20 and 13 per cent of crashes, according to Sokhak.
Illegal turns were recorded as the reason behind 6 per cent of smashes, followed by dangerous overtaking at 5 per cent. Driving under the influence was determined as the cause of just 3 per cent of accidents.
Most accidents occurred in Phnom Penh, Kandal, Kampong Speu, Preah Sihanouk, Svay Rieng, Kampong Cham and Takeo provinces.
Sokhak explained that the Ministry of Interior leadership decided to resume traffic law enforcement — especially by deploying additional police forces at key locations — because thanks to the strategic leadership of the government, border tensions with Thailand have now eased. This has allowed attention to return to domestic issues like traffic safety.
“A growing concern is the increasing number of traffic accidents, deaths, injuries and damage to both private and state property. The lack of discipline in traffic — reckless driving, failure to follow lanes, ignoring road markings and traffic lights, violating right-of-way and impatience — has caused congestion even in places that should not be congested. This is the issue,” he explained.
“That is why Minister of Interior Sar Sokha has decided to redeploy police forces to key areas to resume enforcement of the traffic law nationwide. However, this phase focuses on education only for certain offenses, including speeding, failure to respect right-of-way, ignoring traffic lights, overloading, not wearing helmets and missing mirrors,” said Sokhak.
He stressed that police and the Government have no intention of collecting fines from the public, but noted regardless of a lack of demerit points or fines, reckless citizens will still face consequences — traffic accidents harming them, their relatives and others. Crashes also affect personal and national property, placing a burden on society as a whole, he added.
