Mondays mark highest rate of traffic casualties

Between July and September of this year, Mondays recorded the highest rates of traffic casualties (17.9%) while Fridays recorded the highest number of traffic accidents (583). The lowest rate of accidents was recorded on Sundays (392 cases) even though this day topped the highest casualty-to-accidents ratio.

According to the National Statistics Office, the daily time bracket in which most accidents occur is between 9am and 11:59am (774 cases), followed by the 12pm-2:59pm time bracket (705 cases).

Between midnight and 2:59am is the time bracket in which the least number of accidents occur.

By locality, Birkirkara registered the highest rate of traffic accidents - with 217 cases in three months - followed by St Paul's Bay (193) and Qormi (166).

NSO said that the number of reported traffic accidents reached 3,557 between July and September 2012, marking a 5.3% reduction when compared to the same period last year.

Decreases were registered in all districts except the South Eastern and Northern areas.

In the period under review, 430 traffic casualties were reported, of which 244 involved drivers. Among this group there were 198 slight injuries and 45 reported as grievous. Furthermore, the injuries sustained by a male driver proved fatal. During the period under review, 51 other persons (21 passengers and 30 pedestrians) suffered grievous injuries, while 134 (82 passengers and 52 pedestrians) were slightly injured.

The injuries sustained by a male pedestrian proved fatal.

On a gender basis, slightly-injured persons in the third quarter numbered 332: 195 males and 137 females. Grievously-injured persons totalled 96, the majority being males. The majority of casualties were in the 40-59 age group.

72.6% of traffic casualties were caused by passenger cars, followed by motorcycles at 17.2%, while 6.5% were caused by goods-carrying vehicles.