Amended bill stiffens penalties in traffic violations

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday endorsed the draft 2016 amendments to the Traffic Law to be referred to the Lower House for deliberations, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The penalty on repeat offenders is doubled under the law, which, according to its validating reasons, aims at reducing traffic accidents and achieve road safety, Petra reported.

The law was amended to meet the "dramatic increase" in the number of vehicles and motorists, according to Petra.

Under the new amendments, a "traffic safety council" will be formed to draft policies and regulations related to traffic, Petra said.

Central Traffic Department Director Col. Yaser Harahsheh said the new amendments to the 2008 law came in light of the increase in traffic accidents and the number of deaths. 

By the end of July 2015, 72,290 traffic accidents were recorded in the Kingdom, resulting in 338 deaths and 6,102 injuries, according to Public Security Department figures.

Around 8 per cent of the 1.42 million vehicles registered in the Kingdom are involved in causing traffic accidents each year, Jordan Insurance Federation President Ali Wazani said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times.

Wazani noted that the number of cars involved in accidents is around 114,000 on a yearly basis.