TRAFFIC injuries in Phnom Penh decreased by 55 percent from May 2008 to May 2009, according to a report released on Friday by the National Road Safety Committee (NRSC), a local traffic safety group.

In a survey of hospitals, health centres, private clinics and traffic police departments in 24 provinces, NRSC found that in May 2009, there were 627 crashes throughout the Kingdom, resulting in 1,446 casualties, including 131 fatalities and 479 severe injuries.

Though crashes and total casualties in Cambodia decreased compared with May 2008 by 13 percent each, fatalities saw a 12 percent increase.

In Phnom Penh, however, the news was much better. Some 219 traffic-related casualties were reported in the capital in May 2009, a 55 percent

decrease from May 2008. The survey reported 13 traffic deaths in Phnom Penh from this May, compared with 26 during the previous year.

Ung Chun Hour, director of the NSRC, said that enforcement of the Land Traffic Law - which requires motorbike drivers to wear helmets, among other regulations - is the most likely source of this decline in road injuries.