Nearly 1,000 people killed, injured in 2017 in car accidents: Kurdish official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The General Directorate of Traffic Services in the Kurdistan Region on Monday released the number of casualties and traffic violations in 2017.

In 2017, 689 people were killed, and 249 more injured in car-related accidents in the Kurdistan Region, the Planning Director at the General Directorate of Traffic Services, Assad Karim, told reporters in a press conference in Erbil.

In 2016, 817 people were killed and another 1,188 wounded in various traffic accidents, according to the Directorate.

Karim stated there were a total of 1,498,155 traffic violations committed in 2017, an increase compared to 2016, which registered 1,318,237 violations.

He noted that there were 4,410 car accidents in 2017, with reckless driving being one of the few security risks in the Kurdistan Region as criminality remains extremely low. 

“Drivers disobeying traffic instructions and the rules of the road are the cause of most accidents,” Karim added, saying that half of them are attributed to drivers speeding.

There are 1,469,887 registered cars – excluding military vehicles – in the Kurdistan Region. Most of them are concentrated in urban areas and large cities, according to Karim.

He also noted that 1,647,283 people hold valid driving licenses in the region.

While drivers complain about the quality of roads in the Kurdistan Region, speeding remains the leading cause of car accidents, according to the traffic police.

Editing by Nadia Riva