92 killed in hundreds of car accidents in Sulaimani in 2023

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least 92 people lost their lives in car accidents in Sulaimani province during the first seven months of the year, a police spokesperson told Rudaw on Thursday.

Bahman Abdullah, spokesperson for Sulaimani traffic police directorate, said they had reported over 600 car accidents in the province from January to August of 2023, resulting in 92 people killed and 2,189 others wounded.

“The numbers are saddening,” said Abdullah, adding “We still do not have a long-term strategic plan in the Kurdistan Region to reduce the number of traffic accidents and bring it closer to zero.”

A total of 1,044 car accidents in Sulaimani killed at least 174 and wounded an additional 3,834 in 2022, according to the spokesperson.

Car accidents are a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region in comparison to many countries.

Over 3,700 traffic accidents occurred across the Kurdistan Region in 2022, killing at least 445 people and injuring 7,250 others, according to data from the Region’s general traffic police directorate.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report from 2018, road traffic injuries were the leading killer of people aged five to 29 globally, with an estimated rate of traffic fatalities per 100,00 population in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of 20.7% in 2016.