At least 23 people have died and nearly 500 others have been injured in traffic accidents within the past four days in 15 of the 34 provinces in the country.

Due to the high quantity of traffic during Eid al-Fitr, the rate of traffic accidents has rapidly increased.

These traffic accidents mainly occurred in Kabul, Parwan, Faryab, Herat and Nangarhar provinces, where many citizens from across the country were traveling for picnics during national holidays.

TOLOnews reporter Naseer Ahmad Salehi interviewed one of those injured in a traffic accident.

Abdul Qadeer was riding a motorcycle from Obih district of Herat when he had an accident with a car.

Abdul Qadeer broke his foot and suffered many other injuries.

“I was driving the motorcycle slowly. The (car) came directly from front at a high speed. My food is broken,” he said.

TOLOnews findings of victims of traffic accidents during the Eid days show:  

• At least six people were killed in traffic accidents in Parwan province. 
•  Four people were killed in Kabul and six others were injured. 
• Four people were killed in Faryab and 11 injured. 
• Three people were killed and two others were injured in Kunduz.  
• One person was killed and 200 others were injured in Herat.  
• One person was killed and 122 others were injured in Nangarhar.  
• One person was killed and 13 others were injured in Ghazni. 
• One person was killed and 11 others were injured.  
• One person was killed and seven others were injured in Balkh.  
• One person was killed and seven others were injured in Badakhshan. 
• Seven others were injured and two others were injured in Jawzjan.   
•  47 people were injured in Badghis. 
• 29 people were injured in Ghor.  
• Eight people were injured in Nimroz.  
• Six people were injured in Maidan Wardak.  

“We had more than 60 traffic accidents on the first day of Eid. We had 63 cases on the second day, and we had 74 cases on the third day. Four traffic accidents have been registered in the Emergency room,” said Farhad Afzali, head of the emergency room at Herat hospital.  

“During the three days of Eid, 122 injured people were referred to the hospital of Nangarhar. One person among them has died,” said Naqibullah Rahimi, a spokesman for the Nangarhar public health department.  

The victims of the past four day’s traffic accidents included women and children as well.  

“The teenage boys also included my nephew; they were driving fast and they lost control of (the car) when they reached near the bridge,” said Abdul Jabar, a traveler in Jawzjan.  

“The people below age 18 should not ride motorcycles. Their parents should be careful,” said Abdul Sami, a resident of Jawzjan.  

Lack of attention of drivers and sub-standard roads are said to be the main causes of traffic accidents in the country.