The AIP Foundation and Cambodia’s Ministry of Public Works and Transport have been hosting safe motorcycle driving techniques workshops for factory workers, supported by the FIA Foundation. 

In Cambodia, motorcycles make up 85% of the country’s registered motor vehicles and 78% of the country’s traffic fatalities. Motorcycles are also the primary mode of transport for the 1.1 million Cambodians working in garment and footwear factories – an industry that has been the cornerstone of the country’s economic growth since the mid-1990s.  

The Policy Reform for Safe Journeys for Cambodian Factory Workers initiative, led by the United Nations Road Safety Fund and co-funded by the FIA Foundation, seeks to dramatically reduce road traffic injuries and fatalities among Cambodia’s garment and footwear workforce by scaling the implementation of policy and procedure frameworks for factories. This multi-partner programme is jointly implemented by the International Labour Organization’s Better Factories Cambodia and AIP Foundation. 

More than 30 participants, including representatives from 27 factories in the Policy Reform for Safe Journeys for Cambodian Factory Workers initiative, attended the workshops, as well as representatives from non-governmental organisations and the private sector. They were held at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport’s Heavy Vehicle Driver Training Centre in Phnom Penh.  

The first session, held in May, was followed by a three-day workshop that enhanced the knowledge and skills developed and included effective training methods to enable participants to train their peers. The workshop included sessions focused on laws and traffic rules, motorcycle safety, safe driving techniques and vehicle inspection. It also featured exclusive training for Road Safety Working Group members on effective pedagogy for driving instruction and facilitation. Participants received certificates of completion following successful assessment of their knowledge. 

Following the workshop, representatives from two participating factories applied their enhanced knowledge and techniques by delivering technical road safety training to their fellow workers with guidance and supervision by AIP Foundation.