Traffic police to use wheel clamps as deterrence

AMMAN — The Central Traffic Department (CTD) on Monday announced that it would soon use wheel clamps on violating vehicles in addition to fines.

“The wheel clamps were used in the past in Jordan and we decided to reactivate the measure to minimise traffic congestions because sometimes we do not have enough towing trucks, while certain violations do not entail towing,” said CTD Director Col. Bassem Kharabsheh 

Kharabsheh told The Jordan Times that the penalty is part of the ongoing intensified traffic campaign to register any violations hindering traffic flow that started on Thursday. 

“Summer is approaching and we expect visitors to flock to the country which means that we will see a significant increase in the number of vehicle on our roads.  We want to ensure a smooth traffic flaw,” the officer said.

The wheel clamps are expected to arrive in the coming few weeks, said Traffic Department Director Col. Yasser Harahsheh.

“We will start in Amman then move to other governorates,” he told The Jordan Times.

Harhsheh added that the wheel clamps could remain on the vehicles for up to 48 hours as a “disciplinary measure”.

“It all depends on the type of the violation and the location. The motorists have to pay a fine as well,” Harahsheh.

Since the intensified traffic campaign began on Thursday, Kharabsheh said that an average of 13,000 tickets were issued everyday in the Kingdom. 

The crackdown focuses on double-parking near stores and places of worship, in addition to other negative practices that jeopardise the safety of motorists and pedestrians.

The traffic department said it cooperates with all police departments and stations around the Kingdom, using all the available human power. 

The campaign is also focusing other violations, such as speeding, wrongful overtaking and using the mobile phone while driving.

The PSD last week urged motorists to abide by traffic rules and ethics to ensure road safety and to ease traffic flow. 

It also called on the public to cooperate with its personnel in enforcing the law and preventing violations that could threaten peoples’ lives, according to the statement.

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 PSD 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 every  year.