Four men were killed in a head-on collision with a cargo truck on Sunday in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Srouch district when the driver fell asleep and the car crashed into a cargo truck travelling in the opposite direction, provincial deputy police chief Men Mun said yesterday.

The victims, Chhum Dany, 20, Long Born, 23, and two unidentified men, were crushed to death at the scene, according to police. The driver, Eng Somach, 27, is in the provincial hospital.

The weekend collision brought the number of traffic accidents in the province this year to 61, with 41 fatalities.  

This marks a decrease from 94 accidents and 59 people killed.

Nationwide figures, however, are a different story.

In the first 11 months of 2011, more than 1,700 people were killed and 7,885 people injured in traffic accidents, according to Preap Chanvibol, director of the Department of Land Transportation of the Ministry of Public Works. While traffic accidents fell from 5,088 last year to 4,607, the trend was wasn’t reflected in the death and injury tolls.

This year’s death toll increased from 1,545 in 2010, whereas the accident rate dropped slightly from 8,810.

“Fifty per cent of traffic accidents are caused by speeding, 15 per cent to 16 per cent by careless driving, and 12 per cent to 13 per cent by drunkenness,” said Preap Chanvibol, who added traffic accidents cost Cambodia US$279 million flast year.