Since 2004, around 168,000 new vehicles have been added annually to the streets of Greater Santo Domingo, resulting in the major traffic jams that are experienced almost all throughout the day in the capital city. From 2004 to 2014, the vehicular fleet of the country has doubled from 1.7 million units to 3.4 million, as reports Edwin Ruiz in an analysis piece published in Diario Libre. Ruiz comments that for each child that born in our nation’s capital over the past 10 years, 8 vehicles have been added to our already congested streets.
“The excess of vehicles and the general culture of reckless disregard for traffic laws are the main contributing factors to the DR’s dubious reputation of having an extremely high rate of roadway fatalities. Statistics from the World Health Organization revealed that there are 41.7 deaths per 100,000 traffic accidents, which is the second highest in the world.
Notorious traffic jams in Santo Domingo also waste lots of fuel. According to the National Energy Commission, in 2013, the country consumed 4,580.30 tons of fuel, of which vehicles consumed 43.86%.
Hamlet Hermann, the founding director of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET), attributes the increase in vehicles to the lack of a consistent policy of strengthening efficient and effective mass transportation options for metropolitan areas throughout the country. Hermann pointed out that the large number of overlapping government organizations that deal with public transit only add to the nation’s ground transportation problems.
Read more in Spanish: http://www.diariolibre.com/economia/cada-ano-168-mil-vehiculos-mas-alimentan-infierno-del-transito-XE1723716