Twenty-six people died in road accidents during the three-day Pchum Ben holiday this year, according to the Ministry of Interior’s Department of Public Order and traffic police. Police recorded 52 crashes, which injured 90 people and left 63 seriously injured.
The numbers were similar to last year, when the same number of people were killed during a four-day reporting period in 66 accidents. Officials at the time said traffic crashes had dropped by about 20 percent from the year before due to the new Traffic Law implemented in January 2016.
Kong Sovan, the director of the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking, yesterday called on traffic police to uphold the law.
“If the traffic police are loose on the law, the driver is also like that,” Sovan said.
In the first six months of the year, 919 people died in traffic accidents. Holidays are seen as the most dangerous time to be on the road, as evidenced during Khmer New Year this year, when 55 people were killed.
“During holidays or festivals, traffic police may take time to spend with families, but there are also a lot of traffic accidents happening at that time,” Sovan said.
