Highest traffic accidents in Birkirkara, Qormi and Marsa
Four traffic fatalities during the fourth quarter last year.
30 January 2014, 12:00am
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
2 min read
In the fourth quarter last year, reported traffic accidents reached 3,368, down by 165 over the corresponding period in 2012. The South Eastern district recorded a drop of 16.7 per cent in traffic accidents, although decreases were noted in most districts. The Northern Harbour district registered the most accidents - 1,265 cases, or 37.6 per cent of the total.
In the period under review, 359 traffic casualties were reported, of which 217 involved drivers. There were two fatalities among drivers, while 178 injuries in this group were slight and another 37 were reported as grievous. During this period six passengers and 18 pedestrians suffered grievous injuries, while 78 passengers and 38 pedestrians were slightly injured. Furthermore, the injuries suffered by two pedestrians proved fatal.
On a gender basis, slightly-injured persons in the fourth quarter of 2013 numbered 294: 149 males and 145 females. Grievously-injured persons totalled 61, the majority being males. The fatalities during the quarter involved three males and a female. The majority of casualties were in the 25-39 age bracket.
There were 237 traffic casualties caused by passenger cars, followed by motorcycles and goods carrying vehicles, with 78 and 25 casualties respectively.
In the fourth quarter, the highest traffic casualty rate occurred on Sundays, accounting for 18.4 per cent of total casualties. The highest accident rate was recorded on Tuesdays with 556 cases, and the lowest on Sundays, with 348 cases, even though the same day topped the highest casualty-to-accident ratios.
Birkirkara continued to register the highest rate of traffic accidents, with 210 cases. Marsa and Ħal Qormi followed, with 194 and 176 reported accidents respectively.
Last year, recorded accidents totalled 14,070, a decrease of 3.3 per cent over 2012. The Northern Harbour registered the highest number of traffic accidents, with 5,313 cases, or 37.8 per cent of the total.
There were 1,582 persons (927 males and 655 females) who suffered injuries due to traffic accidents, of which 18 cases (14 males and four females) proved fatal.
Last year, 71.8 per cent of casualties were caused by passenger cars while 17.4 per cent were caused by motorcycles.
The highest number of traffic accidents occurred in Birkirkara with 845 cases, or 6.0 per cent of the total. Ħal Qormi and Marsa followed, with 794 and 738 reported accidents respectively.
Joseph MELI •
What sense of meaningful or worthwhile sense of purpose does such statistical 'information' provide other than to advise of location ,days of the week ,vehicle -type,gender and profile of the victim and number of 'accidents'(NB an accident is defined by more forward -thinking authorities as an incident which is entirely unavoidable ,totally unpreventable and one for which no cuplability may be appportioned).What we urgently need is for the root cause ,or at least the main contributing factors,as to how or why such incidents occurred being revealed .
Not for any curiosity rationale but as a possible deterrent and an awareness exercise to inform us all of the dangers that lurk on our roads and how our actions may dramatically impact -together with the dire consequences of such - on such road traffic incidents -as they most certainly cannot remotely be termed as accidents.
