Fewer Fatalities During Festival Travel Days

Traveling to and fro for this year’s Pchum Ben festival appears to have accounted for fewer traffic fatalities than it did last year.

Pho Khan, director of the Public Works Ministry’s public order department, said that 28 people died in a total of 131 traffic accidents between Sept 27 and 30—down from 36 killed in 231 accidents last year over the four key holiday travel days.

“Pchum Ben this year, traffic accidents fell by about 82 cases from last year for the whole country,” Pho Khan said Wednesday.

He attributed the drop to in­creased awareness of the traffic law, which was enacted in Septem­ber 2007.

Pho Khan said that the most accidents were in Kandal province, where 17 accidents claimed four lives, and Battambang province, which also had 17 accidents but no fatalities.

Kompong Cham province saw 11 accidents and five deaths, he said, while in Takeo, one person died out of the province’s 12 accidents.

Pen Khun, chief of Phnom Penh’s municipal traffic police statistics office, said that four accidents in the capital city claimed two lives. In Siem Reap, provincial traffic police chief Thong Sokhun said that three people died in five accidents.

One person died in 14 accidents in Kampot province, according to provincial bureau chief of traffic police Nop Sareth.

Kompong Thom province traffic police chief Meas Chanthan re­ported that three people died in two accidents.

In Sihanoukville, the deputy traffic police chief, Keit Sopheak, said there were three accidents and one death.

There were no accidents in Pailin, Mondolkiri or Ratanakkiri, Pho Khan said.

Related Stories

Latest News