CTD notes increase in vehicle ownership, parking violations

AMMAN — The Central Traffic Department on Tuesday said motorists committed over 23,000 double parking violations since the beginning of the year.

“Our 911 unified emergency number received 23,200 calls related to double parking or random parking in the Kingdom’s streets since the start of Ramadan,” the CTD stated.

The CTD called on motorists to abide by the traffic rules and refrain from “committing such violation that causes traffic congestions”.

Vehicle ownership witnessed a rapid increase when compared with the population from one vehicle for every 58 persons to one vehicle for every six persons, according to a 2019 CTD report.

The Ministry of Transport announced in January 2021 that the total number of vehicles in Jordan reached 1.5 million, of which 1.2 million are in Amman.

According to the Department of Statistics (DoS), the overall population in the Kingdom reached 10.8 million in 2021. The population of Amman stands at 4.5 million.

Jordan witnessed 12,2970 traffic accidents resulting in 12,690 injuries, 461 fatalities and JD296 million in financial costs in 2020, according to the Jordan Traffic Institute (JTI). 

Traffic accidents are considered a major challenge faced by the government. The cost of traffic accidents is estimated at around JD800,000 per day (JD296 million per year), according to the JTI. 

Over 58 per cent of the overall traffic accidents are car crashes, totalling 4,905 accidents. Most traffic accidents occurred in Amman, during July, and were majorly recorded on Thursdays, according to statistics.

Every day around 23 traffic accidents are recorded in Jordan, which take the lives of an average of 1.3 people and cause injuries to 34.8 people. The daily financial losses traffic accidents cause are estimated at around JD800,000. 

Most fatalities caused by traffic accidents were recorded in the age group of 18-35, the JTI revealed.

Ninety-eight per cent of traffic accidents are caused by human error, according to the JTI.