Two young brothers killed after being hit by car in Ajloun

AMMAN — Speeding and a failure to abide by traffic safety measures caused the accident that claimed the lives of two brothers in Ajloun on Monday, traffic officials said on Tuesday.

Muthana Yazan, 12, and his six-year-old brother Ameer, were walking on a side street of Al Qal’aa Street in Ajloun, 70km northwest of Amman, on Monday night, when they were allegedly hit by a vehicle driven by a 30-year-old man, a senior traffic official said.

“The two children were rushed to a nearby hospital, where one was declared dead on arrival and the second died shortly afterwards,” the police official told The Jordan Times.

The man is being held in police custody pending further investigations, according to the traffic official.

Hundreds of people took to social media to offer their condolences to the family of the two brothers.

Others criticised the “current system that offers leniency to motorists who are involved in fatal accidents in the Kingdom”.

Raifa Tubeishat wrote on Facebook: “Do not waive your legal rights and end this accident with a settlement with the driver.  You should call for his execution for the sake of your children’s blood.”

Osama Khatib responded by saying “Execution is too little for such an individual. He should be made an example of for others and the matter should not end with a cup of coffee.”

The “cup of coffee” is a reference to tribal settlements in road accidents, which can involve distinguished members from the perpetrator’s family visiting the victim’s family to agree on terms and clauses to waive the right to prosecute. If an agreement is reached with the victim’s family, coffee is sipped by the parties involved as a sign of mutual accord.

As long as fatal road accidents end up with a cup of coffee, wrote Sanaa Ayesh on Facebook, “this means that such crimes will continue because of the absence of strong laws and drivers’ consciences”.

In April, His Majesty King Abdullah took to Twitter to urge people to abide by traffic laws.

“Every day, we lose a child or a young person as a result of failure to abide by traffic laws. We all have to fight this phenomenon with determination and responsibility,” His Majesty tweeted in Arabic on his account.

King Abdullah’s remarks came two days after four children died and 23 others were injured earlier in April in a two-vehicle collision in Mafraq, 80km northeast of Amman.

Central Traffic Department statistics for 2016 showed that 542 people died in around 8,000 accidents in the first nine months of 2016, while 1,270 critical injuries and 12,000 minor injuries were recorded during the same period.

The annual cost of traffic accidents in Jordan is $2 billion, accounting for 5.59 per cent of the GDP, according to figures released by the Transport Ministry in March.