Concern over poor Middle East road safety

Poor road safety is a serious issue in several countries in the Middle East. In the UAE, the rate of road deaths increased in 2016 while in Jordan the country pays a heavy burden for its road fatalities. The Ministry of Interior in the UAE revealed that road deaths increased by 7.4% to 715 in 2016 over the previous year. The number of people injured in road crashes rose from 6,670 to 6,681. However the number of crashes actually dropped slightly, from 4,796 to 4,788.

Jordan’s struggling economy meanwhile cannot afford the US$2 billion annual cost of road deaths to the country’s economy. This is close to nearly 5.6% of Jordan’s economy, which it can ill afford, while the human toll is equally heavy. Just how either country intends to tackle the problem remains to be seen.