Death toll from road accidents in Cambodia could reach 3,200 by 2020: experts

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Death toll from road accidents in Cambodia could reach 3,200 by 2020: experts

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Death toll from road accidents in Cambodia could hit 3,200 by 2020 unless additional actions were taken, experts warned on Monday.

"Last year, at least 1,950 people had been killed in road accidents and it is predicted that the number of fatalities will increase every year up to 3,200 by 2020," Uy Mab, an official at the National Committee for Road Traffic Safety, said during a road safety awareness seminar.

He said most of the accidents happened between 6:00 p.m. and 11: 00 p.m., and about 69 percent of the accidents were involved with motorists.

Growing number of vehicles, over-speed driving, alcohol driving and reckless driving were the causes of the increase in accidents, he added.

With the population of 14.8 million, the Southeast Asian nation has roughly 410,000 registered cars, trucks and buses, and 2 million registered motorcycles, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

Brigadier General Luy Chhin, deputy chief of the Interior Ministry's public order department, said the department has been preparing to install cameras on streets to capture traffic law violators.

It is estimated that Cambodia lost more than 300 million U.S. dollars in road accidents last year.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/141020/death-toll-road-accidents-cambodia-could-reach-3200-2020-exp