‘11 dead, 185 injured in accidents during first week of Ramadan’

AMMAN –– Traffic accidents in the Kingdom during the first week of Ramadan dropped by 3.2 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to figures released by the Public Security Department (PSD).

The PSD said in statement posted on its Facebook page that the overall number of traffic accidents across the Kingdom went down to 2,094 during the first week of this year’s Ramadan, compared with 2,164 accidents in the same period in 2013. 

Accidents that caused material damages only were 1,971 this year while during the first week of Ramadan last year they reached 2,003, according to the PSD. 

The Kingdom saw a sharp drop in car accidents that caused injuries, as they went down to 123 (by 23.6 per cent) from 161 accidents last year, the report said. 

The number of injuries this year stood at 185, compared with 216 injuries registered during the first seven days of Ramadan last year. 

Fatalities from road accidents in the first week of the fasting month this year were 11, while last year the PSD said it recorded 15 deaths. 

The PSD said traffic accidents are caused mainly by speeding, wrongful overtaking, careless driving and not maintaining a safe distance between vehicles. 

Accidents usually rise in Ramadan in the hours before sunset as motorists exceed the speed limit to reach their homes in time for iftar, when Muslims break their day-long fast.

In 2013, over 104,000 accidents were recorded throughout the year, a 7.3 per cent drop from 2012, according to PSD figures. A total of 757 people died and 14,000 were injured in these accidents.

In 2012, some 112,000 accidents were registered, involving 816 deaths, according to the PSD. Overall, there were 17,143 injuries related to traffic accidents in the country that year.

In 2011, more than 142,000 accidents took place in Jordan, resulting in 694 fatalities and 18,122 injuries, while financial losses amounted to about $440 million (around JD311 million). 

Road accidents over the past decade have killed 7,869 people and injured 171,143 in the Kingdom.