Over 2,000 people killed in car accidents in Iraq last year: Traffic authority

Authorities will charge any driver not wearing the safety belt 60,000 IQD (nearly $41), the Iraqi traffic directorate announced last month. 
A car crash accident on Babylon-Karbala road which killed 11 people, April 18, 2022. (Photo: Submitted to Kurdistan 24)
A car crash accident on Babylon-Karbala road which killed 11 people, April 18, 2022. (Photo: Submitted to Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Friday, the Iraqi traffic authority announced that more than 2,000 people died in car accidents in 2021. 

The General Traffic Director Major Tarek Ismael told Al-Iraqiya TV on Thursday that Iraq will increase fees for not wearing seatbelts as a measure to reduce fatalities. 

Authorities will charge any driver not wearing the safety belt 60,000 IQD (nearly $41), the Iraqi traffic directorate announced last month. 

The country recorded over 2,000 deaths last year, according to the official.

The figures do not include the Kurdistan Region's numbers, as the Kurdish traffic authorities publish their own statistics independently

The high number of fatalities in the country is usually blamed on speeding, use of mobile phones, and being under the influence while driving, traffic authorities say. 

In a bloody car accident in mid-April, at least 11 people were killed in the Babylon province. Nine of them were schoolteachers. 

The high count of potholes on many major roads is another contributing factor to the increasing amount of traffic accidents in Iraq, observers say. Endemic corruption has diverted investments away from the infrastructure of the country. 

In a meeting with officials in Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi criticized the local authorities for neglecting traffic lights, many of which do not operate in the city.