Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
116
11 Case Study: Morocco
11.1 Introduction
Morocco has been selected as one of the case studies. Morocco covers an area of 710,850 km2
and has a population approaching 32 million people, more than half of which live in the urban
areas. The transport sector in Morocco provides some 7% of the GDP, contributes to 15% of
State budget revenue, employs 6% of the labour force and consumes 40% of the national energy
produced (EuroMed Transport Project, 2010).
The road network covers some 61,000 km, of which 41,105 km are asphalt surfaced (tarred). Of
the asphalt roads 9,816 km are categorised highways, 9,221 km as regional roads and 22,068
km as provincial roads (Ministere de L'Equipement et du Transport, 2012). Of the highways
some 800 km are dual carriageways, i.e. freeways or motorways (EuroMed Transport Project,
2010).
The road network accommodates some 90% of the countries mobility needs and 75% of the
transport of goods needs. Approximately 50 million vehicle-km are travelled on the paved
network on a daily basis, i.e. 67% on highways; 18% on regional roads and 14% on provincial
roads (EuroMed Transport Project, 2010).
Currently there are different estimates of the vehicle population in Morocco. These vary from
2.5 million registered vehicles (EuroMed Transport Project, 2010)(1,825 million private cars,
including LDV) and the rest commercial vehicles (buses and trucks)) to 3.5 million (CNPAC,
2013). Of course the variation in these figures is partly due to the different years of the
estimates: the 3.5 million figure concerns a 3/4 year later estimate than the 2.5 million figure.
The latest WHO estimates reveal a vehicle population of 2,710,000 of which 1,976,172 are cars
and 707,797 are buses and trucks (World Health Organisation, 2013). The vehicle fleet is
relatively old with some 75% of the fleet being 10 years and older.
11.2 Road Safety Performance
Overall performance and mortality
In 2012 4,167 fatalities resulting from road traffic crashes were registered in Morocco
(Ministere de L'Equipement et du Transport, 2012). In addition 12,251 persons were seriously
injured and a further 90099 sustained minor injuries. The registration rate is unknown at this
stage and it is possible that the actual number of persons injured in crashes is higher than
reported from the registered crashes as is evident from the latest WHO data.
According to the 2015 WHO figures (which uses the same official Moroccan data source) which
report fatalities for 2013, some 3,832 people were registered as killed in traffic crashes (World
Health Organisation, 2015). The WHO estimates that these figures are significantly lower than
the actual number of fatalities. Given under reporting and limited controlling between different
crash data systems and records, the WHO has developed a methodology to estimate the actual
number based on reported and recorded data. The WHO estimates the actual number of