The Ministry of Public Works and Transport’s information technology team has been developing a new app to record all information related to traffic offences by drivers in the country.
The app is part of a plan to establish a scoring system for each driver where each recorded offence deducts from the driver’s score to determine the imposition of penalties, including the suspension of their driving licence for a period of six months to one year.
At the opening ceremony of the meeting to review the work results for 2020 and the work directions for 2021 on February 16, public works minister Sun Chanthol said the development of the new app system may be completed by June 2021.
He said once the app is finished it will be presented to Minister of Interior Sar Kheng for approval before it is officially launched.
Chanthol explained that this app will establish a score for each driver linked to their driving licence and deduct points from it for each driving offence.
“The law states that five years after this law is put in force there will be deduction of points for any kind of driving offence. For example, driving over the speed limit, not stopping at red traffic lights, driving in a drunken state, or driving without a seat belt, all of these would count as deductions,” he said.
Chanthol noted that the new app system will record the driving scores and tabulate deductions and once too many points have been lost across the 12 categories of offences tracked, then the offender will not be allowed to drive anymore.
He added that there will still be cash penalties for driving offences along with the deduction of points from the driver’s score and that some offences would cause the immediate suspension of the driver’s licence for a period of six months to one year as stated in the law.
According to Chanthol, if the app is given approval by Sar Kheng in July, they plan to start disseminating information about it to all drivers along with renewed efforts to educate the public about Cambodia’s laws on driving and public roads.
Chanthol said the establishment of this app and the point deduction system for traffic offenders will also make it easier for insurance companies to sell insurance packages in Cambodia with pricing and coverage that reflects the safety record of each driver. He said that in the near future there will be transfer of information of this nature between his ministry and insurance firms.
Road safety expert Kong Ratanak welcomed the modernisation efforts by the ministry and the creation of a system to track all public road users’ traffic offences.
“For me, modernisations such as this app will help to control bad behaviour by recording the mistakes of offending drivers and that is a good thing. In 2021 most people, including the authorities, use a smartphone so the [apps] could assist them in carrying out their duties,” he said.
Ratanak said the ministry has shown initiative by creating this app to simplify the process of tracking driving offences and that along with the requirement of a licence for all drivers in the country it would be an important step towards improving road safety.
However, he noted that the accuracy of the app system and the authorities’ implementation would be crucial in determining whether it is a success.
