Cambodia’s new Traffic Law has been a runaway success for road safety, Interior Minister Sar Kheng claimed yesterday, hours after a collision between two trucks carrying garment workers left two dead and nearly 60 injured.

“There were four white days, meaning there were no people dying for four days,” Kheng said. “This has never happened and it’s because we have strictly enforced the Traffic Law.”

However, Institute for Road Safety director Ear Chariya was not convinced.

“[Enforcement of the law] has faced a lot of challenges since the year began. There have been complaints from the public about the law’s implementation, the government revoked the requirement for driving licences for motorcycles,” Chariya said. “I think it’s not a real success yet.”

The interior minister said that there were 167 traffic-related deaths in the first three months of the year and that of them, 136 were motorcyclists.

“Among the 136, 90 per cent of them were passengers not wearing helmets,” he said. “The majority of bikes were under 125cc, because we don’t require them to have a licence and they drive very fast.”

The new law, which came into force at the start of this year, mandates measures including helmets for passengers.