Cambodia Road Traffic Accident and Victim Information System Annual Report 2007

New land traffic law was endorsed by the National Assembly on 20 December 2006. Following the endorsement, Royal Decree was also made to use the law officially on 08 February 2007. While the traffic law has yet to be comprehensively enforced, it is an important milestone and its approval must be considered as a major step taken by the Cambodian government in its struggle against the rapidly increasing road accidents and casualties, and worsening road safety situation, as the statistics in this report clearly highlight.
Since human error by road users is the leading cause of accidents and casualties on the roads of Cambodia, it is critical that actions, particularly ones that focus on education and enforcement, are designed to change the behavior of drivers. In particular, dangerous behavior such as excessive and inappropriate speed, drink-driving, and low helmet wearing rates are contributing to the majority of accident and casualties.

With the integration of GPS data to the RTAVIS report, it is now possible to identify accident locations and black spots. This information adds a new dimension to accident analysis and hopefully can provide the authorities and agencies active in the road safety sector with more complete information from which to base policy and interventions to reduce accidents and casualties on the road of Cambodia.

Key Figures

- In 2007, 27,403 road traffic casualties were reported to RTAVIS, resulting from 9,449 accidents. Among them, 1,545 were fatalities (an average of 4.2 fatalities per day) and 7,150 were severely injured. 16,982 vehicleswere involved in those accidents.
- The number of road traffic fatalities has almost doubled over the last 5 years.
- Road traffic accidents increased more proportionally than road traffic and population.
- There are 17.8 fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles, a decrease of 2% compared to 2006 but an
increase of 13% compare to 2005. Cambodia has one of the highest fatality rates in the region.
- In Phnom Penh, the number of fatalities has increased by 54% from 2006 to 2007. Most fatal accidents
are motorbike- four wheeler collisions.
- In Phnom Penh, the number of fatalities increased in all districts from 2006 to 2007. A significant increase
was noticed in Dangkao and Ruessei Keo districts.
- In comparison between 2006 and 2007, the number of fatalities on Chinese New Year and Khmer New Year did not increase, but on Pchum Ben and Water Festival the number of fatalities increased by 50% and
46% respectively.
- In comparison, the fatality rate per 10,000 registered two-wheelers has increased 32%. Conversely, fourwheelers (per 10,000 registered four-wheelers) has decreased 7%, compare to 2006.
- The number of fatalities on Asian highways has increased, except national road 4 where the number of
fatalities decreased by 9% in 2007 as compared to 2006.
- 50% of fatalities were due to speeding, while another 19% were caused by alcohol abuse.
- 17% of motorbikes’ riders involved in an accident in 2007, and who were not wearing helmets, suffered from head injuries. This figure decreased to 13% when riders wore a helmet.

Download Full Report:
- RTAVIS 2007