There were three male fatalities in the fourth quarter of 2006, when the number of reported accidents reached 3,594; an increase of 192 over the same quarter last year, the National Statistics Office reporter yesterday.

In the period under review, the number of accidents in the northern harbour and western districts registered an increase of 2.9 and 7.5 per cent respectively. The south eastern, northern districts and southern harbour, registered a decrease of 55, 53 and three cases over the same quarter last year.

In Gozo and Comino the number of accidents increased by 11 to 163 from 152 in the previous year.

In the quarter under review, 186 drivers sustained injuries as a result of traffic accidents; of these, 136 suffered slight injuries. There were 50 drivers who were grievously injured.

During the same period, 37 pedestrians and 113 passengers were injured. The number of slightly-injured persons in the fourth quarter of 2006 totalled 271; of these, 153 were males and 118 were females.

In the fourth quarter of 2006, there were 349 reported casualties; of these, 280 or 80.2 per cent were caused by passenger cars, while 35 or 10.0 per cent were caused by motorcycles. There were 116 casualties in the 25-39 years age group; 87 of them occurring to passenger car travellers.

In the quarter under review, 183 or 52.4 per cent of the reported casualties occurred between Fridays and Sundays.