Red Cross members attending the scene of the collision that took place on Monday, April 3, 2023. (Courtesy of: Michel Hallak/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Two people were killed and three others were injured early Monday morning in a traffic collision in Tripoli, North Lebanon, according to L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the North.
According to our correspondent, citing witnesses to the crash, the vehicle in which the five people were traveling swerved off the road and hit a truck parked on the roadside.
One of the injured is in critical condition. The Lebanese Red Cross and the emergency and relief teams worked to transfer the deceased and wounded to the city's hospitals, our correspondent reported.
Experts say improving traffic safety in Lebanon will require changes to infrastructure, enforcement, vehicle standards and driver education.
Lebanon is currently five years into a six-year, $200 million World Bank-funded road rehabilitation project that aims, among other goals, to reduce traffic fatalities by 15 percent on five priority road sections. Of that, $2 million is earmarked to support the Traffic Safety Committee’s secretariat.
Amid the ongoing economic crisis in Lebanon, road conditions, however, continue to deteriorate, characterized by a decrease in the amount of street lighting and traffic lights, as well as a drop in both road and car maintenance as both the government and drivers find themselves unable to afford repairs.
Reporting contributed by Michel Hallak