Traffic accidents kill over 1,840 Ethiopian people in 6 months

ADDIS ABABA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Some 1,848 people died in traffic accidents in Ethiopia during the firs six-months period of the current 2020-2021 Ethiopian fiscal year that starts in July 2020, the country's Federal Police Commission disclosed on Wednesday.

The commission said the East African country witnessed more than 20,600 traffic accidents between July to end of December 2020, eventually leaving some 1,848 dead, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) quoted Federal Police Commission officials as saying on Wednesday.

Figures from the commission showed that some 2,646 people sustained serious physical injuries from traffic accidents occurred during the stated period, while some 2,565 others also sustained minor injuries.

The East African country has lost in excess of 495 million Ethiopian birr (about 12.3 million U.S. dollars) in terms of financial damage incurred from traffic accidents, it was noted.

Though Ethiopia has one of the lowest per capita car ownerships in the world, deadly traffic accidents are fairly common with bad roads, flawed driving license issuance system and lax enforcement of road safety blamed.

With a growing economy and a rising middle class, the East African nation has for the past several years also recorded an average of more than 10 percent growth in vehicle numbers.