Four people died and eight were severely injured in traffic accidents on New Year’s Eve in Cambodia, the General Commissiariat of the National Police said in a report yesterday.

The same report said that in all of 2014, there were 2,148 deaths from traffic accidents compared with 1,901 in 2013, though the statistics are the same given for January through November.

Sok Nob, of the Ministry of Interior’s Public Order Department, said the figures didn’t in-clude those reported dead or injured in hospital yet, and so “the number could be higher”.

The number of accidents has more than doubled over the past 10 years for a number of reasons, including an increase in vehicle registration, paved roads allowing for higher speeds and a lack of law enforcement.

This week, the Senate passed an updated version of the traffic law, which, among other provisions, ups fines for drunk driving and mandates that motorbike passengers wear helmets.

Him Yan, director of the Ministry of Interior’s department of road traffic, said the government expects a 10 per cent reduction in accidents in 2015.