Heavy vehicles cause traffic jams and chaos on highways

Santo Domingo, DR—The Dominican Republic continues to be the leading country in traffic accident fatalities, with those involving heavy vehicles being one of the means of transportation at the top of the list.

During the Christmas Eve and Christmas holidays alone, several traffic accidents were recorded in which patanas and cargo trucks were the cause of these disastrous events.

On the way to the New Year’s festivities, four accidents involving heavy vehicles were reported this Friday on different country highways, causing chaos and kilometers of traffic jams on the roads where they traveled.

Among these was a collision on the Santo Domingo ring road, specifically on the east-west section of the La Victoria highway, between a truck and a patana. This event claimed the life of one person and left others injured.

A Tropigas company truck was identified among the vehicles involved. A few minutes after the event, the situation caused significant congestion in both directions of the beltway, preventing citizens from moving and reaching their destinations on time.

Meanwhile, in the so-called “Curva de la Muerte” (Curve of Death), on the Matayaya road in Elías Piña, a patana had an accident, and its driver and assistant were trapped inside. Numerous citizens made efforts to rescue them.

The situation spread to the Cibao afterward, according to information obtained by this newspaper. Passers-by spent up to two hours stopped on the Constanza-La Vega highway.

Some users at the scene of the incident, which occurred in the northern region, reported that it was a cargo truck overturned on the highway.

In several videos, it was observed how some citizens chose to turn off their vehicles, and several got out of them.

HEAVY VEHICLES
The interim director of the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant), Rondolfo Rijo, said that an analysis of the nature of traffic accidents in the Dominican Republic is being carried out to take measures and strengthen road safety in the case of heavy vehicles.

Rijo maintained that 2 percent of these tragedies are caused by situations involving heavy vehicles.

“We are going to tighten the registration of these heavy vehicles and the prohibition in certain areas, as well as the routes that these vehicles must take through GPS monitoring,” he said.

TRAFFIC JAMS DUE TO THE HOLIDAY
In addition to the accidents caused by heavy vehicles, the December holidays they brought large traffic jams on the roads leading out of Greater Santo Domingo to the country’s rural areas.

For the New Year’s Eve celebrations, several avenues, such as John F. Kennedy, were congested as of Friday because traditionally, the people of the capital leave the city to welcome 2024 in the towns of the provinces.

HIGHEST RATE
The Dominican Republic is the country with the highest mortality rate caused by injuries in traffic accidents in the world, according to the most recent statistical surveys.

This was established by a “World of Statistics” report in a list released this Friday. In the country, there are 65 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the inventory.

It is followed by the Republic of Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand, with 41, 39, 36 and 32 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively.

In Vietnam, there are 31 deaths; in Iraq, 27; in South Africa, 22; while in Nigeria and Armenia, there are 21 and 20 deaths. The territories above form part of the top 10 of the registry.

A report by the newspaper El Dinero states that, according to the 2022 statistical bulletin of the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII), the vehicle fleet increased to 5,463,996 units, representing an increase of 6%.

According to available statistics, motorcycles, which have presented the highest number of accidents, had a 6.6% growth in 2021, with 189,114 new registrations.