Interior Minister Sar Kheng credited the road traffic law for reducing accidents and deaths in the past nine months.

However, road safety organisation officials said praise is premature and the numbers haven’t dramatically changed.

There were 2,430 traffic accidents between January and September, said a National Police report issued over the weekend. There were 1,257 deaths and 3,663 injuries.

The report noted the numbers were down by 729 from the same period last year when there were 3,159 accidents – 23 per cent higher.

There were 1,521 fatalities in the first nine months of last year – 264 or 17.25 per cent higher. Injuries declined by 1,058 or 22.41 per cent.

Sar Kheng posted on his Facebook page that he is proud of the results of the road traffic law enforcement statistics.

“Based on this result, I admire the work of leaders and police officers at all levels of the General Commissariat of National Police, Unified Command Committee in Phnom Penh and provinces, who have attentively enforced road traffic laws night and day.

“I also thank drivers who respect traffic laws and helped contribute to a noticeable drop in accidents, deaths and injuries,” he said.

Institute for Road Safety director Kong Ratanak said he was happy about the decline in traffic accidents, but he is still concerned because the death toll remains high.

“On average, three to four people die per day due to traffic accidents. The numbers are still a lot,” Ratanak told The Post.

He encouraged officials to put more effort into their work and bring the injury and death numbers down.

“I believe the traffic issue is not only the responsibility of the government but all of us, especially those between the ages of 15 and 40. They have to respect the law,” he said.