During the third quarter of 2018, there were three road traffic fatalities, the NSO said today.

The number of reported traffic accidents in the third quarter this year reached 3,656, down by 6.4 per cent over the comparative period in 2017. The Northern Harbour district registered the most accidents with 1,318 cases or 36.1 per cent of the total.

Road traffic casualties decreased by 7.8 per cent to 463 when compared to the same period in 2017. Grievously injured persons consisted of 51 drivers, 16 passengers, 14 pedestrians/others and one cyclist.

The injuries suffered by one driver, one passenger and one pedestrian were fatal. The total number of road traffic fatalities during the first nine months amounted to 16; almost at par when compared to the same period in 2017.

When classified by gender, grievously-injured persons totalled 82; the majority of whom were males (70.7 per cent). The fatalities comprised of two males and one female. The majority of casualties fell in the 26 to 40 age-bracket.

The largest number of road traffic casualties (58.5 per cent) involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (32.0 per cent) and goods-carrying vehicles (5.6 per cent). The fatality involving a driver happened to be a motorcyclist, while that concerning a passenger was also a person travelling onboard a motorcycle. The fatality that involved a pedestrian was caused by a passenger car.

A total of 11 cyclists were hit by passenger cars, one of whom suffered grievous injuries while the rest suffered slight injuries. Another cyclist was hit by a goods-carrying vehicle and suffered slight injuries. Road traffic casualties caused by accidents between vehicles, topped the list with 77.1 per cent of all road traffic casualties.

The highest road traffic casualty rate occurred on Fridays, accounting for 21.4 per cent of total casualties; while the highest number of road traffic accidents occurred on Wednesdays with 16.3 per cent of the total. The time bracket during which most road traffi c accidents occurred was between 12:00- 14:59, with 806 cases or 22.0 per cent of the total, followed closely by the 09:00-11:59 time bracket, with 800 cases. The least number of accidents occurring daily took place between 00:00 and 02:59 (91 cases).

The highest number of road traffic accidents was registered in Birkirkara with 328 cases. St. Paul’s  Bay and Ħal Qormi were next in the list, with 200 and 191 reported accidents respectively.