In the first quarter this year, the number of reported traffic accidents reached 3,912; an increase of 545 or 16.2 per cent over the same quarter last year. In the period under review, the number of accidents in the south eastern, western districts registered an increase of 24.0 and 26.4 per cent respectively, the National Statistics Office reported yesterday.

The southern harbour, northern harbour and northern districts registered an increase of 102, 149 and 78 cases over the same quarter last year.

In Gozo and Comino the number of accidents increased by 58 to 190 from 132 in the previous year.

In the quarter under review, 127 drivers sustained injuries as a result of traffic accidents; of these, 95 suffered slight injuries. There were 31 drivers who suffered grievous injuries and there was one fatality.

During the same period, 53 pedestrians and 75 passengers were injured and there were two pedestrian fatalities, one man and one woman.

The number of slightly-injured persons in the first quarter of 2005 totalled 193; of these, 109 were men and 84 were women. In the 15-24 and 25-39 year age groups, 33 males in each age group suffered slight injuries. The number of injured females in the same age groups reached 23 and 25 respectively. Persons sustaining grievous and fatal injuries totalled 64; 43 were males and 21 were females. There were three traffic deaths in this quarter, two men and one woman.

In the first quarter of 2005, there were 257 reported casualties; of these, 201 or 78.2 per cent were caused by passenger cars, while 32 or 12.5 per cent were caused by goods vehicles. There were 71 casualties in the 15-24 and 25-39 years age groups; 102 of them occurring to passenger car travellers.

In the quarter under review, 131 or 51.0 per cent of the reported casualties occurred during Friday-Sunday. However, the three fatalities happened on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday respectively.