There were five traffic fatalities in the second quarter this year, the National Statistics Office said today.

The number of recorded accidents between April and June reached 3,910, or an increase of 3% over the corresponding quarter last year. Increases were recorded in all districts except the South Eastern. The Northern Harbour district registered the majority of accidents, with 1,428, or 36.5% of all accidents.

In total, 458 traffic casualties were reported, of which 279 involved drivers. 227 injuries in this group were slight and another 49 were reported as grievous. The injuries suffered by three drivers were fatal.

During this period, 32 other persons (eight passengers and 24 pedestrians) suffered grievous injuries, while 145 (95 passengers and 50 pedestrians) were slightly injured. Furthermore, one passenger and one pedestrian suffered fatal injuries.

On a gender basis, slightly-injured persons in the second quarter numbered 372: 212 males and 160 females. Grievously-injured persons totalled 81, the majority being males. The five fatalities comprised four males and one female. The majority of casualties fell in the 26-40 age bracket.

The largest number of traffic casualties (62.9%) involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (27.5%), while goods-carrying vehicles were involved in almost 7% of casualties.

The highest traffic casualty rate occurred on Saturdays and Sundays, accounting for 15.5% apiece of total casualties. The highest accident rate was recorded on Tuesdays, totalling 626 cases, and the lowest on Sundays, with 359 cases. Sundays topped the highest casualty-to-accident ratio.

The daily time bracket in which most accidents occurred was between 15:00 and 17:59, with 833 cases, or 21.3 per cent of the total. This was followed by the 09:00-11:59 time bracket, with 810 cases. The lowest number of accidents occurring daily took place between 03:00 and 05:59 (70 cases). Birkirkara registered the highest rate of traffic accidents, with 260 cases, followed by Ħal Qormi and Marsa with 221 and 195 reported accidents respectively.