Road accidents kill 1727 people in Cambodia in 11 months

Road accidents killed at least 1,727 people in Cambodia in the first 11 months of 2013, down 0.5 percent from the 1,735 deaths for the same period last year, a report by the Ministry of Public Work and Transport said Wednesday. During the January-November period this year, there were 3,934 road accidents, up 0.7 percent from the 3,905 cases over the same period last year, the report said. Besides the deaths, the accidents injured 6,490 people, down 4 percent from 6,800. Preap Chan Vibol, director of the Ministry's Transport Department, said about 50 percent of the accidents were caused by overspeed driving, and the rest were caused by alcohol-related driving, neglect driving and law violation. "For their own safety and others' safety, I'd like to call on all drivers to drive with high responsibilities in order to avoid road accidents," he said. Road accident is still the number 1 killer in Cambodia. Last year, traffic accidents killed 1,894 people, according to the Ministry's report. The country lost about 300 million U.S. dollars a year due to the accidents.