· Jordan Traffic Institute releases yearly statistics about accident numbers, causes, and outcomes.
· There is no available information regarding the number of traffic violations and their distribution by cause.
· The number of vehicles, traffic congestion, and injury-causing accidents has increased.
· 97.1% of accidents are caused by drivers (89% of whom are male).
· The age group 18 to 35 years is the most affected by traffic accidents.
· Approximately 42% of total fatalities, regardless of age, were pedestrians.
· The estimated direct and indirect costs of traffic accidents in Jordan for 2024 reached about 958 million dinars, equivalent to 2.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The number of vehicles, traffic congestion, road accidents, and human injury-causing accidents has increased (Figure 1 + Figure 2).
Jordan experienced a substantial increase in the vehicles number between 2020 and 2024, with registered vehicles growing from approximately 1.72 million to around 2 million, equating to one vehicle per 6 people (compared to one per sixty-nine people in 1970[1]). This surge was accompanied by a rise in traffic accidents (from 122,970 to 190,175) and injury-causing accidents (from 8,451 to 11,950), resulting in 543 fatalities and 18,275 injuries in 2024 alone.
Traffic congestion is expected to intensify due to significant growth in population and vehicles. Jordan's population has increased by six million over the past two decades, reaching approximately 11.8 million. The country's youthful demographic structure further compounds this issue, with children under 18 years old constituting about 40% of the total population (4.6 million individuals). Such youthful age structure represents a driving force for sustained annual growth in vehicles number and drivers as they approach the legal driving age. Projections indicate that registered vehicles in Jordan will exceed 2.3 million by 2030[2], potentially overwhelming road network capacity to meet rising land transport demand and compromising further improvements in traffic safety. Geographically unbalanced population distribution exacerbates congestion, as around 92% of inhabitants reside in the northwestern parts of the Kingdom, where traffic bottlenecks are increasingly severe.
The estimated cost of traffic accidents in Jordan (both direct and indirect) for 2024 reached approximately 958 million Jordanian dinars (JOD), equivalent to 2.8% of the Gross Domestic Product [3]. This aligns with global accident loss ratios, which typically range between 1% and 3% of GDP. Although Jordan's accident severity rate remained relatively stable during 2020-2024, fluctuating between 0.068 and 0.063, further reductions in traffic accident severity could be achieved by focusing traffic enforcement and violations on monitoring and addressing the root causes of accidents before they occur.
[1] https://www.psd.gov.jo/media/q5xhkhlu/التقرير-السنوي-2024.pdf
[2] https://psd.gov.jo/media/ainbigdr/ملخصات-اوراق-عمل-ودراسات2023.pdf
[3] يدخل في معادلة حساب الكلفة إجمالي الكلف المترتبة على ما يلي: كلف أعمال الشرطة والتأمين وأعمال المحاكم والقضاء والصحة والالم والمعاناة وتضرر الأسرة والمجتمع والكلف المرتبطة بحجم الضرر المادي (كلف اصلاح المركبات لدى شركات التأمين ) والفاقد في الإنتاج نتيجة الإصابة والنفقات المترتبة على فتح المخطط الكروكي وزيادة أقساط التامين نتيجة لوقوع الحادث بالإضافة الى النفقات المترتبة على المخالفات المرورية المسببة لوقوع الحوادث المرورية.
Human factors are the leading cause of road traffic accidents in Jordan
Human factors constitute the primary cause of road traffic accidents in Jordan, being responsible for 97.1% of all injury-causing crashes in 2024 - with male drivers accounting for 89% of these cases, while road conditions and vehicle defects contributed just 1.9% and 1%, respectively. The most prevalent driver errors included failure to take necessary precautions (42.2%), lane violations (22.5%), and right-of-way violations (10.2%). Notably, newly licensed drivers (with less than three years of experience) were involved in 10.5% of injury accidents, while young drivers aged 18-35 represented 52.4% of at-fault drivers, followed by those aged 36-53 (31.4%). These findings highlight the critical need for implementing stricter legal measures against traffic violations to enhance road safety and protect all road users.
Younger age groups are the most affected by traffic accidents.
The 18–35 age group emerged as the most severely affected by road traffic accidents, constituting 47.7% of total casualties (injuries + fatalities) across all injury severity levels in 2024 (Figure 3). Meanwhile, those under 18 accounted for 21.6% of all casualties and 34.3% of total pedestrian fatalities. Alarmingly, children under nine years old represented approximately 23% of all pedestrian deaths – highlighting the critical role families must play in enhancing child protection measures and raising awareness about pedestrian collision risks.
At the global level
The Fourth of May is designated as World Traffic Day, drawing attention to the dangers of road accidents and their associated losses and damage to sustainable development. Globally, approximately 1.19 million people die annually in traffic accidents – a rate of fifteen deaths per 100,000 population[1], equating to over two deaths every minute. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that road crashes will cause thirteen million deaths and 500 million injuries worldwide by 2030[2]. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and youth aged 5–29 years, and rank as the twelfth leading cause of mortality across all age groups. Two-thirds of fatalities occur among working-age adults (18–59 years), resulting in severe health, social, and economic consequences for societies[3]. Additionally, the transport sector negatively impacts the environment, responsible for nearly one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. The UN Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030 calls for a safe systems approach to halve road traffic deaths by 2030.
