The ATO road safety profiles offer insights into the road safety in 28 Asia-Pacific countries by utilizing road safety related data from various sources and policy information extracted from a range of documents.

The profiles were created by the Asian Transport Observatory —in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory (APRSO), and the International Road Federation (IRF)— as an input to global discussions on road safety, in time for the Fourth Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Marrakech, Morocco.

Road safety in Cambodia remains a significant public health challenge. In 2021, an estimated 3,000 fatalities occurred due to road crashes, accounting for 2.3% of all deaths in the country. This narrative explores the current state of road safety in Cambodia, highlighting key challenges and opportunities for improvement.

A notable discrepancy exists between reported road crash fatality numbers. While the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated approximately 3,000 fatalities in 2021, national statistics and the Global Burden of Disease project reported figures closer to 2,000 for 2017 and 3,000 for 2021. This difference in data collection and reporting methodologies underscores the need for improved and harmonized data collection to accurately assess the problem's scope and track progress.

Disaggregated data provides valuable insights into the demographics of road crash victims. The share of female fatalities in Cambodia decreased slightly from 26% to 25% between 2010 and 2021. Regarding age, the combined share of minors (<14 years old) and seniors (>65 years old) in road crash fatalities increased marginally from 26% to 27% between 2015 and 2019, contrasting with a slight increase from 32% to 34% in the Asia-Pacific region. Concerning vulnerable road users, pedestrians and bicyclists represented 12% of Cambodia's total road traffic crash fatalities in 2021, significantly lower than the Asia-Pacific average of 31%.

The economic burden of road crashes in Cambodia is substantial. Fatalities and serious injuries resulting from these crashes cost an estimated 1 billion USD in 2021, equivalent to roughly 5% of the country's GDP. For comparison, healthcare expenditure in Cambodia in the same year was 7.5% of GDP.

Furthermore, road crashes account for a significant portion (71%) of the implicit costs associated with fossil fuel subsidies in transport. The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) suggests that an annual investment of 129 million USD (approximately 0.5% of Cambodia's GDP) could potentially prevent around 1,000 fatalities annually.

The quality of road infrastructure plays a crucial role in road safety. As of 2024, no portion of road infrastructure in Cambodia has 3-star or better iRAP rating for pedestrians. The share is only 9% for bicyclists, significantly lower than the Asia-Pacific average of 22%. While at least 40% of Cambodia's road infrastructure has a 3-star or better rating for vehicle occupants, only about 21% achieves this rating for motorcyclists, highlighting a disparity in infrastructure safety for different road user groups. Cambodia experiences approximately 42 fatalities per thousand kilometers of road.

Cambodia's motorization rate has been on the rise. By 2022, there were 54.3 vehicles per thousand population. Two-wheelers dominate the vehicle fleet, comprising 98% of all vehicles, followed by trucks at 2%, data for other vehicle types is not available.

The country experiences a road traffic crash fatality rate of 18.8 per 100,000 population, exceeding the Asia-Pacific average of 15.2 and the Southeast Asia average of 14.4 for the same year. While progress has been made, with a reported decrease in fatalities per capita from 30.4 in 2010 to 18.8 in 2021 (a -38% change), Cambodia's improvement lags slightly behind the broader Southeast Asian region (-35%) and the Asia-Pacific region (-19%).

The country experiences roughly 395 fatalities per 100,000 registered vehicles.

• Urgent action needed to reduce road fatalities The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 aims to cut road fatalities in half by 2030. An annual reduction of at least 7.4% is necessary to achieve this.
• Asia-Pacific region falling behind Despite reaching a peak in road crash fatalities, the Asia-Pacific region is not on track to meet the 2030 goal. The average annual reduction in deaths between 2016 and 2021 was only 0.6%, far below the required rate.
• Varying progress across Asia Using the 2016-2021 road crash fatality growth rate as a basis for estimates until 2030:
  • Only 3 Asian countries are projected to achieve the 50% reduction target by 2030.
  • 18 Asian countries are expected to reduce fatalities by at least 25%.
  • Worryingly, 7 Asian countries will continue to increase road fatalities, moving further away from the target.
• In Cambodia, road crash fatalities decreased by approximately -5.9% per year between 2016 and 2021. However, this is not enough to reach the 2030 target to halve the fatalities by 2030

Despite the challenges, Cambodia has made strides in developing a policy framework for road safety. The National Traffic Safety Plan, published in 2014, is the primary guiding document. Other policy documents with indirect benefits for road safety include the National Strategic Development Plan 2019-2023, the Rural Roads Policy, the Law on Road Traffic, and the Law on Land Traffic. Although Cambodia lacks explicit road safety targets, it has targets with indirect benefits, such as modal shift, vehicle inspection and maintenance, and vehicle restrictions (import, age, access, sale, and taxation). Strengthening policy implementation and enforcement, coupled with data-driven decision-making, will be crucial for achieving substantial improvements in road safety.

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Nirandjan, S., Koks, E. E., Ward, P. J., & Aerts, J. C. J. H. (2022). A spatially-explicit harmonized global dataset of critical infrastructure. Scientific Data, 9(1), 150. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01218-4

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