Car accidents kill and injure 12,514 Iraqis in 2015

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - In 2015, 2,570 people lost their lives to car accidents and 9,944 were injured, said Iraqi Ministry of Planning on Thursday.

According to the Ministry statistics, more than 9,000 collisions occurred in the country in 2015.

It is important to mention that the statistics do not include the traffic accidents in the Kurdistan Region.

The ministry also mentions that the number of car accidents in Iraq increased in 2015 by 0.24 percent compared to 2014 while death toll decreased by nine percent.

Death toll statistics also indicate that  77 percent of those who lost their lives were male, 2,000 men compared to 570 women.

The high number of car accidents in Iraq is attributed to two main reasons, unsafe roads and an aggressive culture of driving.

Drivers complain that the government puts insufficient efforts in building and reconstructing safe and standard roads.

Police officers complain drivers violate traffic laws.

The combination of problems has caused an alarming rate of unnecessary death tolls.

Editing by Ava Homa