The Ministry of Health has called on the country’s 24 provincial health departments to be on alert at all times during the Khmer New Year to help victims of traffic collisions.

“In the lead up to, during and after Khmer New Year, the traffic situation along national roads will be busy, which could lead to traffic accidents,” ministry secretary of state Te Kuy Seng said in a letter to the departments.

More than 100 traffic officers from the Ministry of Interior will be deployed to the roads leading to Phnom Penh to ease congestion and reduce traffic accidents, said Ti Long, deputy director of the ministry’s public order department.

Typically, about six people die per day as a result of traffic collisions, but the number doubles during the holiday period, said Ear Chakriya, director of the Road Safety Institute.