Global road safety ambassador encourages Cambodian passengers to use helmet

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Actress and Global Road Safety Ambassador Michelle Yeoh joined Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng to donate 6,652 helmets to students and teachers here on Tuesday, encouraging passengers to wear helmets while traveling on motorcycles.

Yeoh also instructed students on the proper use of helmets and urged all to wear helmets.

"Although all road users are at risk on the road, motorcyclists are among the most vulnerable. In Cambodia, they make up the majority of road crash victims," she said in a press statement. " Helmet-wearing is the first step - the essential step - towards preventing traffic injuries and fatalities, especially among our children."

"Please make sure that all motorcycle riders and passengers always wear a helmet," she said.

It was Yeoh's second trip to Cambodia after the first one in February 2011.

Sar Kheng said during the last 12 months as of November this year, road accidents had killed 2,148 people--an average of 6 people per day.

"High-speed driving and alcohol driving are the main causes of the accidents," he said. "About 73 percent of the victims are motorists and 58 percent of them did not wear helmets."

He said road traffic crashes cost the country approximately 337 million U.S. dollars last year.

Sar Kheng said a new traffic law, which was passed by parliament last week, required motorcycle drivers and passengers to wear helmets, or they will be fined 15,000 riels (3.75 U.S. dollars).

With a population of 14.8 million, the Southeast Asian nation has about 410,000 registered cars, trucks and buses, and 2 million registered motorcycles.

Greig Craft, president of the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, said road traffic crashes have become one of the most critical public health problems in Cambodia.

"Road accidents account for more deaths than landmines, malaria and dengue fever combined," he said. "Children received helmets today will protect your brain every time you leave home."

He said research demonstrated that non-helmeted motorcyclists are more than four times as likely to suffer fatal head injuries in case of a crash, yet only 9 percent of motorcycle passengers and children wear helmets on Cambodia's roads.

"They are as much at risk of suffering the consequences of not wearing a helmet as motorcycle drivers," he said.