Road Safety Issue in Cambodia

Written and Compiled by:

yoursides.blogspot.com

2013

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Road Safety Issue in Cambodia

I. Introduction

The traffic accident has become the number one accident and killer of people in Cambodia. Almost 4 persons die and almost 100 are injured everyday which caused by traffic accident. Road safety is a critical issue in Cambodia. The number of road crashes, fatalities and disabilities is still alarming. Over the last few years the number of crashes is increased around 217% and the number of fatalities almost double. Road crashes disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people. In Cambodia context, road traffic crashes in Cambodia is very high around 46% of all kinds of recorded injuries in the countries and almost 7% towards the causes of physical impairment and disability. The total economic loss of road traffic accident was estimated at 248 million USD according to HIB in 2009. Road crashes increase more proportionally than road traffic and population, over the last 5 years the number of fatalities increase almost double. Almost 90% of road crash casualties are motorbike riders, pedestrians and bicyclists. Almost the fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles has reduced, compared to 2008; the absolute number of the fatalities and the rate per 100,000 inhabitants kept increasing. Road crashes in 2009 had an enormous impact on the social and economic welfare of Cambodia with an estimated annual cost of 248 million USD, which is an increase from 116 million USD compared to 2003. In 2009, 21,519 road crash casualties were reported resulting from 12,538 estimated crashes. 1,717 were fatalities (an average of 4.7 fatalities per day) and 7,022 were severely injured. 18,410 estimated vehicles were involved in those crashes. The number of fatalities increased by 4% compared to 2008.

II. Contributing Factors

a. Over Speeding

The number of fatalities due to over speeding increased by 8% compared to 2010

A peak was observed from 7 to 8pm (11%) Saturdays represented highest percentage of fatalities (22%), followed by

Sunday (14%) A high percentage of fatalities occurred on the main national roads

(72%). 33% of fatalities were due to head-on collisions, followed by re-angle

collisions (18%) and right-angle collisions (13%)

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Young adults, aged 20 to 29 years old, represented almost half (46%) of those at-fault drivers.

19% of all at fault drivers were suspected to be alcohol-involved during these over speeding related crashes.

Source: National Road Safety Committee 2011 Annual Report

b. Drunk driving

The number of reported fatalities due to drunk driving decreased by 3% compared to 2010 A peak was observed between 7 and 8pm (19%). Saturdays and Thursdays shared high percentages of fatalities (22% and

18% respectively) 32% of fatalities were due to head-on collisions, followed by single

vehicle collisions (22%) and rear-end collisions (15%). The percentage of fatalities was high on the main national roads (61%)

and local roads (19%) 75% of all at-fault drivers were aged between 20 and 39. 81% of at-fault drivers in drunk driving crashes were motorbike drivers,

followed by family vehicle drivers (12%).

c. Consequences after crashes

11% of the casualties were fatalities and 35% were severe injuries. Among fatalities, 65% of them died immediately at the scene of crashes, 27% died at a hospital and 8% died during the transfer from the crash scene to a medical facility.

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Only 35% of the casualties were transferred to a hospital by ambulance and 64% by the private transportation.

37% of casualties could reach the first health facility in less than 30 minutes in Phnom Penh municipality, while 42% took more than 2 hours in the provinces.

Source: National Road Safety Committee 2011 Annual Report

The highest number of fatalities was observed in Phnom Penh (278), followed by Kompong Cham province (233) and Kandanl province (149).

Source: Road Crashes and Casualties in Cambodia, 2011 Annual Report

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Motorbike riders accounted for 68% of the total number of fatalities, followed by pedestrains (13%) and those traveled by family cars (8%).

Source: Road Crashes and Casualties in Cambodia, 2011 Annual Report

Type of Transportation in Cambodia

Very high share of 2-wheeled vehicles in the vehicle fleet (75% of motorized vehicle)

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Heterogeneous traffic mix (e.g. ox carts and bicycles sharing the road with high-speed 4-wheelers

Lack of education and enforcement: lack of road safety education and awareness and weaknesses of the responsible institute leading to poor traffic regulations and insufficient enforcement

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III. Key Recommendations

Road Safety Education o Improve primary and lower secondary school children’s road

safety behaviors by providing them with an effective safety education curriculum.

Grade 1-6: Development of curriculum for elementary; integration of the curriculum in the formal school curriculum, in collaboration with Ministry of Education Youth and Sports

Grade 7-12: Development of curriculum; integration of the curriculum in the formal school curriculum and implementation in Phnom Penh and other provinces.

o Enhance public awareness on particular issues of road safety by setting-up mass media campaigns and targeted awareness initiatives.

Mass media campaigns (TV and radio spots, posters, banners, leaflets, stickers, newspapers articles…)

Regular events, e.g.: Press conference during World Health Day (7thof April), Helmet Distribution Ceremony to 1,500 children at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh (8thof December) in presence of His Majesty King Sihamoni, Water Festival stand and Khmer New Year campaign

Awareness events in universities and schools Partnership with private and NGOs by increase the involvement and

capacity of the civil society in improving road safety. o Management and further development the road safety network

(RSN) o Coordination of actions of local NGOs in road safety. o Identification and training road safety ambassadors (along major

national roads) o Development and distribution of standardized road safety

education and awareness materials to those ambassadors o Organization of road safety workshops and support the

development of a road safety action plan for each village. Emergency Assistant by improve the capacity of the traffic police in

providing first aid response to traffic casualties and to refer them to adequate health structure

o Elaborating the guidelines on first aid for traffic polices o Training for selected traffic police officers in each province; o Follow up and lobby the Ministry of Health for greater emergency

assistance services Speed up the development of the road safety policy and 2011-2020

National Road Safety Action Plan; Speed up the revision of the traffic law;

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Strengthen the traffic law enforcement, particularly on speeding, drunk driving and helmet wearing;

Provide technical and financial support and relevant equipment’s and trainings to the traffic police;

Strengthen the training and driving license application; and introduce demerit point system;

Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the emergency medical services and ensure neutral treatments to all casualties;

Promote road safety and traffic law public awareness campaigns and education in schools and communities, especially along national roads and at high risk areas.

Ban alcohol advertisement on any mass media such as TV, newspaper, radio or magazine...etc.

Reference 2011 Annual Report of Road Safety Issue in each cities and provinces of Cambodia Cambodia National Road Safety Action Plan 2011-2020, National Target and Performance Indicators Handicap International Belgium, Road Safety in Cambodia, Meas Chandy slides presentation 22 October 2007 http://www.roadsafetycambodia.info/en/component/content/article/55-all-service-repots/174-2013-02-14-03-58-53.html