'Traffic department to crack down on sudden lane change'

AMMAN — The Central Traffic Department (CTD) said on Wednesday that tickets will be issued to motorists who change their lanes without alerting other drivers.

CTD Director Col. Basem Kharabsheh said changing lanes without signalling to other motorists is one of the most dangerous and common practices by Jordanian motorists that cause accidents and traffic jams around the Kingdom. 

As of Wednesday, traffic cameras started monitoring cars on the streets for unexpected change of lanes, Kharabsheh said.

“Changing lanes on intersections and traffic lights increases the number of road accidents in many areas around the country,” he told The Jordan Times.

The official noted that the new regulation includes motorists who take the left or right lanes but drive in another direction and those who double park.

“When drivers decide to change their lane, other cars have to slow down to let them pass, this causes road accidents and jams; it is the strategy of ‘filling in the blank’ that we have here in Jordan,” he said. 

According to Majdi Alaween, head of Greater Amman Municipality’s cameras department, there are around 40 cameras in Amman, with around five on traffic lights.

He told The Jordan Times that the municipality will install 120 cameras within the next few months on different roads around the Kingdom, adding that tickets for traffic violations are issued mainly for double parking, not abiding by road signs, and speeding. 

By the end of July 2015, 72,290 traffic accidents were recorded in the Kingdom resulting in 338 deaths and 6,102 injuries, according to Public Security Department figures.

Around 8 per cent of the 1.42 million vehicles registered in the Kingdom are involved in causing traffic accidents each year, Jordan Insurance Federation President Ali Wazani said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times.

Wazani noted that the number of cars involved in accidents is around 114,000 on a yearly basis.