PSD launches 2nd phase of road safety campaign

AMMAN — The Public Security Directorate (PSD) on Saturday launched the second phase of the “Together, We Arrive Safely” campaign to raise public awareness of road safety.

Director of Traffic Department Brig. Firas Al Duwairi in press remarks to Amen FM, the radio station of the PSD, said that the first phase of the campaign helped reduce the number of traffic accident victims by 5.3 per cent.

Traffic department studies have identified the 70 busiest spots along the Kingdom's most congested roads, Duwairi said, highlighting efforts to deal with this issue effectively in cooperation with key partners such as the ministries of local administration, public works, housing and transport, the Greater Amman Municipality and the Land Transport Regulatory Authority, according to a PSD statement. 

The traffic department's role is restricted to the organisation and facilitation of traffic reduction and prevention of traffic violations, in addition to coordinating with the relevant authorities to find engineering and technical solutions, he noted.

There are 1, 900,000 vehicles running on Amman’s roads, he said, adding some 80,000 vehicles enter the Kingdom every year. The increased density of vehicles is among the characteristics of an active capital city, including Amman, he said.

Emphasising the efficiency of the traffic points system, he said that 32 driving licences were suspended and 78 drivers whose traffic points exceeded 16 points received 10 training courses thus far.

Figures show the “human factor” is the main reason for traffic accidents, he said, using a man caught driving at speed of 204km/h as an example of unjustified carelessness, stressing zero tolerance for reckless driving.

If the driver uses their mobile phone for just two seconds when driving at 100km/h, the driver is effectively “driving blind” for 55 metres, he said.

Highlighting the department’s efforts to enhance transparency and monitoring the performance of traffic officers, cameras that monitor the activities of traffic police are used “100 per cent of the time”, he said.   

Duwairi urged the public to report any instances of dangerous driving by calling 0770999030.