Skip to main content

Morocco faces increasing road safety crisis

Road safety levels continue to deteriorate in Morocco, despite a series of policies introduced by the government and a tougher process of enforcement. The country has a human population of 32 million, along with 2.7 million registered vehicles and last year saw 15,000 people severely injured in road accidents, leaving them with long term disabilities.
August 8, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Road safety levels continue to deteriorate in Morocco, despite a series of policies introduced by the government and a tougher process of enforcement. The country has a human population of 32 million, along with 2.7 million registered vehicles and last year saw 15,000 people severely injured in road accidents, leaving them with long term disabilities. The Moroccan Government has been working on improving road safety but the growing vehicle population is providing a severe test, with casualties continuing to climb. The country introduced its new highway code in 2010, as part of the 10-year road safety plan that commenced in 2004. The aim of the 2004 road safety policy was to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries by 5%/year. The fatal accident rate has risen 50% since 1996 when there were 2,807 road deaths. The probability of getting killed in a road accident has risen from 5.77% in 2010 to 6.29% in 2011. With 1,508 deaths in 2011, cars are in first place in terms of user category. This is followed by pedestrians (1,141), motorbikes (923) and trucks (255).

Related Content

  • The cost of crashes in the US
    May 25, 2023
    The financial cost of road crashes in the US places a heavy burden
  • Estonia, Ireland rapid reduction in road deaths
    February 15, 2012
    Estonia and Ireland's 2010 Road Safety PIN Awards followed wide-ranging efforts to reduce road deaths. In Estonia, road mortality has been halved from 146 deaths per million inhabitants in 2001 to 75 in 2009 (although still above the EU27 average of 70).
  • Road safety improvement for the US
    December 11, 2012
    The US is seeing improvements in road safety overall, with a drop in road crash statistics for 2011. The data for 2011 is encouraging and the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a new analysis indicating that highway deaths fell to 32,367 in 2011. This marked the lowest level of road related fatalities since 1949, 1.9% decrease from the previous year. Furthermore, this updated 2011 data show the historic downward trend in recent years continu
  • Measures needed to increase awareness of cyclists
    May 4, 2012
    The latest official data shows a continuing improvement in road safety statistics in both France and the UK. However the data also reveals worrying trends in accidents concerning vulnerable road users. Department for Transport figures for 2010 have revealed a 17% drop in road fatalities to 1,850. But 111 pedal cyclists died in 2010, compared with 104 in 2009, with cyclist fatalities in capital London of particular concern. The DfT believes that the severe winter weather, lower traffic in general due to th