In the period under review, the number of accidents in the southern harbour district was down by two per cent while those in the northern harbour district increased by 3.8 per cent.

The northern and south eastern districts registered a decrease of 2.7 and 1.6 per cent respectively.

However, the western district registered a massive increase of 22.5 per cent.

In Gozo, the number of accidents increased by nine from 132 to 123 in the previous year.

In the quarter under review, 223 drivers sustained injuries as a result of traffic accidents; of these, 187 suffered slight injuries and 36 suffered either grievous or fatal injuries. Two drivers in fact died between January and March this year.

During the same quarter, 41 pedestrians and 101 passengers were injured, and there was also one fatality.

The number of slightly-injured people in the first quarter of 2004 totalled 302; of these 168 were males and 138 were females. In the 15-24 and 25-39 year age groups, 54 males suffered slight injuries. The number of injured females in the same age groups totalled 35 and 37 respectively.

Persons sustaining grievous and fatal injuries totalled 64, 46 were males and 18 were females. In all, there were three traffic deaths, two males and one female.

In the first quarter of 2004, there were 366 reported casualties; of these, 288 or 78.7 per cent were caused by passenger cars; while 39 or 10.7 per cent were caused by motorcycles.

There were 106 casualties in the 25-39 years age group; 78 of them occurring to passengers.