Iraq Records Staggering 12,000 Traffic Violations in 24 Hours
Iraq's Interior Ministry reports a staggering 12,150 traffic violations in a single day, with Baghdad leading. The ministry vows to continue its crackdown on illegal driving to ensure citizen safety, highlighting speeding and mobile phone use as key issues.
By Kamaran Aziz
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a stark illustration of the challenges facing road safety across federal Iraq, the Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday that an astonishing 12,150 traffic violations were recorded in a single 24-hour period, signaling a widespread disregard for regulations and a significant focus for law enforcement.
The announcement was made by Brigadier General Miqdad Miri, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, who confirmed that the high volume of infractions was registered on Saturday, July 19, 2025, alone. The data underscores a concerted effort by the ministry to enforce traffic laws more rigorously across the country's provinces.
In a statement on the matter, Brigadier General Miri emphasized that the ministry's actions are part of a continuous campaign aimed at improving public safety on the roads.
"The Ministry of Interior is working to regulate traffic in all provinces of Iraq," Miri said. "Our teams daily monitor vehicles whose drivers are operating illegally, and we penalize them according to the law."
The spokesperson issued a direct warning to drivers, highlighting the ministry's unwavering commitment to reducing dangerous driving behaviors and holding violators accountable.
"The safety of our citizens is our top priority, and drivers must adhere to road regulations, or else we will penalize violators in various ways," he stated.
To provide a clear picture of the scale and nature of the issue, Brigadier General Miri released a detailed statistical breakdown of the violations recorded on Saturday. The report documented a total of 12,150 infractions, which were categorized under the heading of reckless driving and speeding. Within this total, specific violations were enumerated, including 838 for exceeding the speed limit, 348 for running a traffic signal, and 333 for the dangerous practice of using a mobile phone while driving.
The data also revealed a significant geographic concentration of these offenses, with the capital, Baghdad, emerging as the epicenter of the violations. According to the ministry's figures, Baghdad's Karkh district recorded 2,784 violations, while the Rusafa district saw 2,655 violations in the same 24-hour period.
Following Baghdad, the provinces of Babylon, Najaf, Karbala, and Nineveh, among other Iraqi provinces, were also identified as areas with high numbers of traffic infractions, indicating that the challenge is a national one. The daily monitoring and enforcement campaign described by the ministry aims to address this widespread issue through consistent legal penalties for those who flout traffic laws.
