During the third quarter of 2016, there were eight traffic fatalities, the NSO reported today.
The number of reported traffic accidents in the third quarter reached 3,809, down by 7.4 per cent over the comparative period in 2015. The Northern Harbour district registered the most accidents with 1,368 cases or 35.9 per cent of all accidents (Table 1).
Traffic casualties increased by 10.8 per cent to 513 over 2015, of which 307 (59.8 per cent) involved drivers. The amount of slight injuries sustained by drivers was 264 and 40 cases were reported as grievous. Another 47 persons (26 passengers and 21 pedestrians) suffered grievous injuries. There were also 110 passengers and 44 pedestrians who were slightly injured. Furthermore, the injuries suffered by three drivers, one passenger and four pedestrians were fatal (Tables 3-6).
On a gender basis, slightly-injured persons in the third quarter this year amounted to 418: 220 males and 198 females. Grievously-injured persons totalled 87, the majority being males. The fatalities comprised of seven males and one female. The majority of casualties and fatalities fell in the 26-40 age bracket.
The largest number of traffic casualties (72.3 per cent) was caused by passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (20.5 per cent) and goods-carrying vehicles (5.1 per cent). Of the eight fatalities, five were caused by passenger cars and three by motorcycles (Table 8).
The highest traffic casualty rate occurred on Saturdays, accounting for 17.2 per cent of total casualties, while the highest number of accidents was recorded on Fridays. Saturdays topped the highest casualty-to-accidents ratio, with 18.1 per cent compared to an overall average of 13.5 per cent.
The daily time bracket in which most accidents occurred was between 09:00-11:59, with 845 cases, or 22.2 per cent of the total. This was followed by the 12:00-14:59 time bracket, with 788 cases. The least number of accidents occurring daily took place between 03:00 and 05:59 (86 cases) (Table 10).
The highest rate of traffic accidents was registered in Birkirkara with 294 cases. St. Paul’s Bay and Qormi were next, with 213 and 166 reported accidents respectively.