PHNOM PENH, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Interior Minister Sar Sokha said on Monday that road traffic accidents kill at least four people and injure 12 others on average every day in the Southeast Asian country.
"Eighty percent of the dead were motorcyclists, and 73 percent of them were unhelmeted," he said at an annual event to remember road traffic victims held in Preah Sihanouk province.
Sokha, who is also a deputy prime minister, said the country recorded 756 deaths and 2,072 injuries from road traffic accidents during the January-June period of 2023.
Most of the crashes happened in Phnom Penh Municipality, and the provinces of Preah Sihanouk, Pursat and Kandal, he said, adding that the main causes of traffic accidents included excessive speeding, traffic law violation, overtaking driving and drink driving, among others.
Road traffic accidents are the leading cause of deaths and injuries in Cambodia, costing the country about 466 million U.S. dollars a year, according to a report jointly conducted by the United Nations Development Program in Cambodia and the National Road Safety Committee. ■