Cambodia

Country Summary

To get an understanding of how the road safety crisis is affecting the lives of ordinary Cambodians, consider the words of 42-year-old Cheng Heng, a garment factory worker who recently spoke to Time.com. Heng broke his clavicle in November 2010 on the perilous National Highway 4 outside Phnom Penh. "My family earns $300 a month, and we have 10 people,” he told Time. “It took three months to pay off the debt”.

These kinds of stories are increasingly common in Cambodia, which serves both as an example of the road-safety crisis at its worst, as well as a showcase for numerous creative and positive responses to the crisis. Roughly 1,850 people died on the country’s roads last year, making road crashes the most common cause of death in the country, surpassing HIV/AIDS. In response, government, civil society and businesses have launched a wide range of initiatives — from enhanced strategic policing, improved legislation, grassroots education and capacity building.

Drinking and driving

Case in point: the night-time drinking-and-driving checkpoints set up by the Phnom Penh Municipal Traffic Police with support from RS10, the World Health Organization, Handicap International Belgium and the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP). The checkpoints operated on Friday and Saturday night in all eight districts of Phnom Penh. Using 30 breathalysers donated to Cambodia by Australia's Queensland Police Service, and delivered by GRSP along with training, nearly 100 car drivers and motorbike drivers were stopped during one recent weekend. RS10 in Cambodia and GRSP continue to support this project alongside several other initiatives to enhance the capacity of Cambodian police.

The checkpoints are also a result of an earlier study tour, supported by RS-10 and organized by GRSP, in which senior police and transport officials from Cambodia traveled to Australia in order to gain new insights and skills on drink-driving legislation and enforcement measures.

Cambodian Red Cross

The humanitarian mission of the Cambodian Red Cross has also compelled its volunteers and staff to respond to the country’s road safety crisis. Cambodian Red Cross youth, for example, spread awareness in communities of three provinces by creating youth road safety clubs in schools, organizing information campaigns and promoting peer education.

The GRSP in Cambodia worked to support these efforts. In early 2010, for example, GRSP helped the Cambodian Red Cross host a workshop for private-sector partners with 2,123 USD through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Cambodia Country Office. Interest from the workshop garnered roughly 81,000 USD in financial support along with a variety of in-kind corporate and volunteer contributions.

Road accidents have become a main subject of serious concern to the Royal Government of Cambodia, which has considered it as the second biggest catastrophe after AIDS.

– Sou Phrin, Governor, Siem Reap Province