Minister of Interior Sar Kheng requested the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to provide cable internet service to connect 20 fixed speed cameras at 10 locations along National Road 3 from the Chaom Chao roundabout in Phnom Penh to Kampot town.
According to a letter dated October 26 addressed to telecommunications minister Chea Vandeth and seen by The Post on November 3, Sar Kheng said the National Police are working with interior ministry experts to install the 20 fixed speed cameras to reduce accidents caused by speeding.
After the cameras have been installed, they will be located at Kilometre posts number 18, 33, 43, 74, 86, 102, 109, 134, 151 and 16. But the cameras will also need to be connected to the internet.
“These fixed speed cameras require an internet service to send images of offending vehicles taken at each location to the National Police command centre for further procedures according to the law,” Sar Kheng wrote.
Asked if the telecommunications ministry had responded to the request, its secretary of state So Visothy declined to comment.
Telecommunications ministry spokesman Meas Po said he was working in the provinces and referred reporters to Mok Rady, head of the ministry’s General Department of Administration, who also declined to comment saying he was not the ministry’s spokesman.
Road traffic accidents in Cambodia remain a cause for concerns.
According to National Road Safety Committee secretary-general Min Manvy, in the first nine months of this year traffic accidents left 1,888 dead, 1,560 seriously injured and nearly 4,000 vehicles damaged.
She said the main cause of traffic accidents during this period was speeding, which accounted for 36 per cent of accidents resulting in 457 deaths, followed by neglecting to give way, which made up 24 per cent with 189 deaths. Fifteen accidents were caused by not driving on the right side of the road, leading to 163 fatalities.
Other factors included careless overtaking, drunk driving, vehicle condition, drowsiness and road conditions, she said.
But Manvy stressed that the main reason for accidents was drivers’ limited understanding of road traffic laws.
The number of road traffic accidents and casualties across the country jumped in October, with 340 injuries and 140 deaths recorded.
