Road accidents claimed 643 lives in Jordan in 2019 — PSD report

AMMAN — The annual increase in the number of vehicles averaged around 4.4 per cent over the past five years, according to the annual report of traffic accidents in Jordan for 2019 issued by the Public Security Directorate (PSD).

Car ownership per person touched its highest levels, in which one in six persons owns a vehicle in Jordan, the report said.

According to the PSD data, a total of 161,511 accidents occurred in Jordan in 2019.

The PSD’s report showed that an estimated 643 people lost their lives in road accidents across the Kingdom in 2019, witnessing a death every 13.6 hours due to road accidents on average. 

The report also indicated that a road accident happens every 48.4 minutes in Jordan, resulting in casualties. 

A total of 608 road traffic deaths were recorded in 2015, increasing to 750 in 2016. However, road casualties decreased to 685 in 2017 and to 571 in 2018, the PSD data showed. 

The PSD figures also showed that youth aged between 21 and 38 years constitute 49.6 per cent of drivers involved in road accidents. 

Based on the 2019 analysis, the total cost related to road accidents was JD324 million. The annual cost increase of road accidents is estimated at 4.5 per cent over the last five years. 

The report also showed that the total number of registered vehicles reached 1,677,061. 

Traffic collisions account for 58.8 per cent of total car accidents, which are the most common type of road accidents in the Kingdom.