Road accidents are one of the main causes of premature deaths in Morocco.
Rabat – From December 2-8, 15 people died and 1,836 others sustained injuries, including 61 severe injuries, in 1,404 urban traffic accidents across Morocco.
The General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) said in a press release that the accidents were mainly due to lack of control of vehicles, not respecting priority, excessive speeding and pedestrian and driver errors.
Police issued a total of 38,033 traffic tickets during the same week, resulting in a sum of MAD 5,612,050 in fines, added DGSN.
Despite the launch of a new national strategy for road safety in 2017, aiming to reduce the number of road accidents victims, the numbers are still far from low.
In 2018, around 3,485 people died from road accidents, including 893 pedestrians (26% of all victims), and 1,175 two-wheel and three-wheel drivers (34%).
In the same year, around 128,249 people sustained injuries, including 8,725 with severe injuries.
The number of road accidents in 2018 reached 96,133, including 3,066 fatal accidents.
Over the last decade, 3,500 people lose their lives in road accidents every year, while 12,000 sustain severe injuries. This averages to about 10 deaths and 33 serious injuries per day.
The previous national strategy for road safety (2004-2013) saved around 9,210 lives and spared thousands of severe injuries, according to the Ministry of Equipment, Transport, and Logistics.
The number of victims, however, is still high compared to developed countries, according to the same source.
The new road safety strategy (2017-2026) aims to bring the number of deaths to less than 1,900 by 2026, with a median objective of not exceeding 3,000 road accident deaths in 2020.
According to the World Health Organization, road accidents are a major global problem. Each year, around 1.3 million people die of road accidents and several millions get injured or handicapped because of them.
