Drivers in Amman tunnel accident both at fault — traffic officials

AMMAN — Traffic officials on Wednesday said a man who was injured by his own vehicle after it was crashed into by another vehicle in a tunnel in Amman remained in hospital in critical condition.

The accident involved a minivan and a motorist whose vehicle broke down inside the tunnel, and went outside the vehicle to check on the engine.

The driver of the minivan that was allegedly involved in the crash was surprised by the parked vehicle inside the tunnel and struck it, sending the motorist flying to the other side.

“The driver of the vehicle is in critical condition although he was not hit by vehicles coming from the other direction,” a senior traffic official said.

A video that went viral on social media purportedly showed the accident at the moment the minivan smashed the parked vehicle.

Traffic officials ruled that both drivers were at fault.

“The driver of the vehicle failed to place warning signs when he pulled over and the minivan driver was also at fault because he failed to pay attention to the road and was speeding,” the traffic official explained.

Owners of vehicles in Jordan are obliged to have an emergency warning triangle and would not pass the yearly inspection without having one in their vehicle along with a fire extinguisher.

“The driver of the malfunctioning vehicle in this instance appears to have failed to place the emergency warning triangle few metres behind his vehicle and at the same time the mini-van driver was speeding and could not avoid the parked vehicle inside the tunnel,” a second traffic official explained.

He urged the public to “immediately notify traffic officials by calling 911 if their vehicle breaks down in a high-traffic area to avoid being hit or causing traffic jams”.

“We have provided all our patrol cars and the traffic motorcycles with ropes in order to pull away any malfunctioning vehicle to avoid deadly accidents and obstructing traffic,” the official told The Jordan Times.