There were 55 traffic accidents during the Khmer New Year period from April 12 to April 16 – a 57 per cent decrease compared to the same five days of the New Year last year.
The drop came after the government shut down travel to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Department of Traffic Police and Public Order deputy director Thai Visal told The Post on Wednesday that the accidents left 20 people dead and 120 injured. During the same period last year, he said, there were 59 dead and 238 injured.
“There were only 55 traffic accidents compared to 134 last year, which is a decrease of 79 cases. There were 20 deaths compared to 59, a decrease of 39 people. Injuries were reduced by 188 people,” he said.
Visal said the top three causes of traffic accidents were speeding (25 per cent), driving on the wrong side of the road (24 per cent), and driving without due respect to the right of way (18 per cent).
The decrease in traffic accidents is due to the government announcing a moratorium on New Year’s celebrations and issuing a cross-province travel ban to prevent people from spreading Covid-19 in their communities.
National Police deputy chief and the secretary-general of the National Road Safety Committee Him Yan said the accidents could not be further clarified.
Institute for Road Safety director Kong Ratanak said the travel ban, police presence at the borders between provinces, and the addition of fines for drivers violating traffic laws led to the significant decrease.
He said he was still calling on law enforcement forces to keep up the campaign because he said people would obey the law more if police forces were deployed in greater numbers to enforce it.
“The request would be to continue the campaign to enforce the law consistently, as previous studies show people obeyed the law when they see the authorities.
“If there is no competent authority in place, the people have a tendency not to obey the law. Running a traffic light is a clear example of this,” he said.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Hun Sen called on citizens to drive with extreme caution as they can now resume travelling on the road.
Writing on his Facebook, he said: “Because today may be crowded on the roads, please especially taxi drivers and big trucks drivers, please drive carefully and respect the traffic laws for everybody’s safety.
“Please, all citizens and workers, pay more attention to protecting personal health to avoid getting infected with Covid-19 by wearing masks and rubbing hands with alcohol or anti-virus gel, especially when travelling in the car with many travellers in one taxi,” he said.