Cambodia Road Traffic Accident and Victim Information System Annual Report 2008

Road crashes are a major cause of death, injury and disability, especially among younger age groups. They
negatively impact on individuals, families and communities, as well as the Royal Government of Cambodia.
The RCVIS Annual Report 2008 reviews the main road crash trends in Cambodia compared to previous years.

The report shows that over the last 5 years, the number of crashes increased by 150% and the number of
fatalities has almost doubled. . At the same time, the population has increased by 6% and the number of
registered motorized vehicles has increased by 132%. The fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles has
decreased from 17.8 in 2007 to 15.1 in 2008 although this number is still more than double the national target, which is set in the National Road Safety Action Plan.

Human error by road users is the leading cause of crashes and casualties on the roads of Cambodia, specifically dangerous behaviour such as excessive and inappropriate speed, drink-driving, dangerous overtaking and low helmet wearing rates. However, road crashes and casualties are preventable. Actions such as road safety education, awareness and enforcement should be increased to change the behaviour of drivers. Particularly, enforcing the new land traffic law is an important milestone for the Royal Government of Cambodia in its struggle against the rapidly increasing crashes and casualties, and worsening road safety situation, as the statistics in this report clearly highlight.

Global Positioning System (GPS) is integrated into this RCVIS Annual Report. This data is useful to identify crash locations, black spots and provides a deeper analysis on crashes. This information is being used by authorities and agencies active in the road safety sector, especially the Ministry of Public Work and Transport for interventions to reduce crashes and casualties on the road of Cambodia.

This report details the key findings of road crashes and casualties, and provides recommendations on how these findings can be used to improve the road safety sector and reduce road traffic crashes and casualties.

Key figures
General figures

- In 2008, 25,796 road traffic casualties were reported to RCVIS, resulting from 10,015 crashes. 1,638 were fatalities (an average of 4.5 fatalities per day) and 7,226 were severely injured. 21,305 vehicles were involved in those crashes2.
- Road crashes increased more proportionally than road traffic and population. The number of road traffic
fatalities has almost doubled over the last 5 years.
- The fatality rate per 100,000 inhabitants increased from 11.7 in 2007 to 12.2 in 2008, but the fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles decreased from 17.8 in 2007 to 15.1 in 2008.
- In Phnom Penh, 53% of casualties were injured in motorcycle collisions, and 21% were injured in motorcycle-four-wheeler. Conversely, only 28% of fatalities occurred in motorcycle-motorcycle collisions while 49% of fatalities occurred in motorcycle-four-wheeler collisions.
- In Phnom Penh, fatalities increased in almost all districts from 2007 to 2008. However, a significant decrease was noticed in Ruessei Keo districts (35% compared to 2007).
- Comparing 2007 to 2008, fatalities during Chinese New Year and Khmer New Year increased by 45% and5% respectively.
- Cambodia has the highest fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles among ASEAN member countries.
- The fatality rate of two-wheelers per 10,000 registered two-wheelers decreased from 14.7 in 2007 to 12.6 in 2008.
- Compared to 2007, the number of fatalities on the Asian highway network increased (24% on NR4, 6% on NR5), except on national road 6A and 7 which decreased by 34% and 18% respectively.
- 47% of crashes were due to speeding and another 14% to alcohol abuse. Conversely, 51% of fatalities were due to speeding, while another 18% were caused by alcohol abuse.
- Motorcycles constituted the highest road user category, followed by pedestrians.
- The majority of crashes occurred between 7 pm and 8 pm.

Download Full Report
- RTAVIS 2008