Officials are optimistic that the number of traffic accidents and fatalities recorded during this year’s Pchum Ben holiday will be lower than they were last year, based on preliminary figures gathered yesterday.

Although official statistics have not yet been finalised, this year’s traffic accidents and fatalities appear “less serious and smaller in number than last year’s”,  said Him Yan, director of the public order department at Ministry of Interior.

In Battambang province, traffic office police chief Sath Kimsean reported 10 accidents resulting in two deaths and 34 injuries during the 15 days between September 13 and 27. That was a decrease, he said, on the 12 accidents and nine deaths experienced during the same period last year.

Sihanoukville traffic office police chief Prum Pov reported four traffic accidents, but no deaths between Monday and Wednesday, the peak of the Pchum Ben festival.

He said this was a decrease from last year’s figures.

In the capital, there were three accidents and two deaths during the three-day holiday peak, police said.

Last year, during Pchum Ben nationwide there were 99 traffic accidents, which left 25 dead and 239 injured, the Interior Ministry said. Final statistics will be released today.