ALGIERS
Algeria's Transportation Ministry announced Tuesday that more than 4,000 people had been killed in road accidents throughout 2014, representing a 4.5-percent drop from last year.
According to the ministry's annual report, "4,036 were killed and 55,805 others were injured in a total of 37,739 road accidents between January and November of 2014."
"The number of those killed in road accidents in 2014 fell by 4.54 percent compared to those killed in 2013, which saw 4,228 deaths from road accidents," the report stated.
"Road accidents cost the general budget nearly 74 billion Algerian dinars [roughly $800 million] in 2013," Public Security Director Eissa Naili told reporters earlier this month.
The ministry report did not give reasons for the numerous accidents, but Algerian police confirmed in a 2013 report that 96 percent of the country's road accidents could be directly attributed to "reckless" driving.
In June, Transport Minister Omar Ghoul said his ministry had "taken steps to rephrase and reinforce legal texts to deter traffic violators and launch awareness campaigns in cooperation with civil society organizations and municipal authorities."
Ghoul also stressed the need "for field monitoring, especially for cars, and for educating those applying for driver's licenses on the dangers of not respecting traffic rules."
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