Heavy traffic on Cambodia’s major roads over the three-day Khmer New Year weekend saw speeding, overloaded taxi cabs and at least 43 accidents that resulted in 18 deaths, authorities said.
Roads were jammed with people returning to their hometowns for the first real new year celebration since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 shut everything down. All of the major national routes leading into Phnom Penh were choked with motorbikes, cars and trucks on Monday.
That included National Road 6, which travels from Siem Reap province – home to the famous Angkor temples – through Kampong Thom province and into the capital. Too many drivers were seen driving dangerously, said Yoeung Nim, who works for the independent election watchdog, Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia.
“I request our people who are traveling back to Phnom Penh not to drive over the speed limit and respect one another,” she said after returning to the capital from her hometown in Kampong Thom’s Baray district.
The higher rate of traffic accidents over the weekend was no surprise. There are always reports of deaths and injuries as people travel to visit relatives for Khmer New Year in April, or for the Pchum Ben festival – the festival of the dead – in September.
On Monday alone, there were 23 traffic accidents, with 14 killed and 52 injured, according to a preliminary report by the National Police General Commissariat. Causes of accidents included speeding and failure to comply with traffic rules.
Neighboring Laos saw similar numbers, with higher than usual incidents of traffic accidents in Vientiane, Luang Prabang and the southern city of Champassack, where four people died over the Lao New Year weekend celebration.
“We had about 45 injuries from 32 road accidents due to people drinking alcohol, beer and then driving while drunk,” said a rescue worker from Champassack. “This is more than last year, because last year, people celebrated the new year at home because of COVID-19.”
Major cause of death in Cambodia
Sokun Kanha, a private school teacher, told Radio Free Asia that she started her trip back to Phnom Penh early on Monday to avoid the traffic. She still saw drivers failing to respect others and causing accidents, she said.
“I urge everyone not to drive overspeed,” she said. “Don’t overtake one another and always respect your lanes. Please wear a helmet and a seat belt.”
Road traffic accidents are a major cause of deaths in Cambodia. In 2022, the country saw at least 2,980 cases of road traffic accidents, resulting in 1,709 fatalities and 4,026 injuries, according to a National Police General Commissariat report.
A 2021 UNDP study determined that Cambodia loses between $420 million and $450 million annually as a result of road traffic accidents – mostly due to loss of life and associated lifetime earnings.
San Chey, executive director of The Affiliated Network for Social Accountability-Cambodia, urged the government to expand major roads and build more access roads leading to Phnom Penh to avoid traffic jams during major holidays. The government should also increase the number of traffic police officers, he said.
“Traffic police officers are only stationed in downtown Phnom Penh, but not in other areas,” he said. “Some people when they don’t see police presence, they violate traffic rules.”
More than 13 million people traveled around the country last weekend, and at least 55,000 foreigners visited the country during the holiday, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
The most visited province was Siem Reap, where Prime Minister Hun Sen and his youngest son, Hun Many, kicked off an extravagant festival on Friday. Other top visited provinces were Battambang, Kampong Cham and Phnom Penh municipality.
Translated by Keo Sovannarith and Sidney Khotpanya . Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.