Background In January 2015, the King of Cambodia signed the new Road Traffic Bill into law. The RTL addresses drinking and driving, speeding, helmet use, and other road safety issues. Implementation of the law is an important component of reducing road traffic crash-related injuries and deaths.

Description of the problem As road safety good practice suggests, legislation without comprehensive implementation campaigns will not result in impactful reductions of road traffic death and injury. In Cambodia, district level implementation of the Road Traffic Law is necessary to achieve intended reductions of road traffic death and injury.

Results A coalition of civil organisations led by the Advocacy and Policy Institute (API) partnered with the government to effectively implement the national law at the district level. API worked with 12 district governments to allocate road safety funds and integrate the road safety law into district development plans. The Cambodian Red Cross utilised its seat on the National Road Safety Committee to maintain strong national-level support for the Road Traffic Law among policy-makers and enforcement agencies. Lastly, the Women’s Media Centre launched a public awareness campaign about the importance of the law and safe practice for road safety.

Conclusions API and other civil society organisations effectively supported local implementation of Cambodia’s national law. Without the added civil society resources, the general public would not have been sufficiently aware of the new legislation, its underlying rationale, or penalties. Likewise, sufficient attention to implementation of the new legislation may not have been paid in the finalisation of district development plans and other legislative implementation platforms.