Cambodia - April, 2016

After years of concerted efforts, January 2016 saw the start of enforcement for the new Road Traffic Law in Cambodia. The law has already resulted in helmet use rates among motorcycle passengers reaching a record level of 29.9% in target areas where AIP Foundation implements its projects. This success goes hand in hand, however, with the fact that rates remain at a low 15% during the critical period of the night when most road crashes typically occur. This is coupled with the fact that the deployment of traffic police is not yet as robust as was initially envisioned. If stronger enforcement came into the equation, it is likely that rates could climb much higher and reach universal status.

Even without full enforcement, the strengthening of the helmet law has had a net positive effect – despite the fact that law enforcement currently excludes child passengers, child passenger helmet use has jumped from 0.06% to 28.7% in target communes since the beginning of the year. AIP Foundation’s Head Safe. Helmet On. (HSHO) program strongly emphasizes the importance of helmets for children as especially vulnerable road users and includes components such as primary school road safety education and child helmet donations. Driver helmet rates have also seen an increase from 63% at baseline to 77% in target communes in January 2016.