Most traffic accidents occur on Friday, Birkirkara with the highest rate

In 2014 the number of reported traffic accidents reached 14,473, an increase of 403 cases, or 2.9 per cent over the previous year.

Increases were registered in all districts, with the largest increase recorded in the South Eastern district, up by 118 cases.

The Northern Harbour district was the district to register the most accidents: 5,349 cases or 37.0 per cent of total accidents. 1,796 traffic casualties, 1,072 of whom were drivers, occurred in 2014. 930 drivers suffered slight injuries, 138 suffered grievous ones, while injuries sustained by four drivers proved fatal.

During the same period 361 passengers and 203 pedestrians suffered slight injuries, while 57 passengers and 97 pedestrians suffered grievous ones.

Moreover, injuries sustained by six pedestrians eventually proved fatal, thus raising the total number of fatalities in 2014 to ten.


On a gender basis, slightly-injured persons numbered 1,494, of whom 837 were males and 657 were females.

Grievously-injured persons stood at 292, the majority being males. Of the ten fatalities, six were males. The largest number of male and female casualties was in the 26-40 age group.

73.8 per cent of casualties were caused by passenger cars while 15.5 per cent were caused by motorcycles. Of the ten fatalities, seven were caused by passenger cars, two were caused by goods vehicles and the rest by motorcycles.


The highest traffic casualty rate occurred on Fridays, accounting for 15.6 per cent of the total. The highest accident rate was also recorded on Fridays, totalling 2,304 cases, and the lowest on Sundays, with 1,406 cases. However, Sundays topped the highest casualty-to-accident ratio.


Birkirkara was the locality with the highest rate of traffic accidents, with 962 cases. Hal Qormi and Marsa followed, with 746 and 674 reported accidents respectively.

As at the end of 2014, the number of licensed vehicles in Malta amounted to 335,249. Passenger cars totalled 265,950 or 79.3 per cent.

Newly-licensed motor vehicles amounted to 19,212; of these, 8,191 were newly-licensed ‘new’ vehicles and 11,021, were newly-licensed ‘used’ ones.

A total of 2,978 vehicles were scrapped, of which 88.8 per cent were private cars. Also, 207 vehicles were exported, while 8,063 other vehicles were garaged.

As at end December 2014, registered motorcycles amounted to 36,013 – of these 34,853 were recorded as having a petrol engine, 18 a diesel engine and 1,084 with alternative power sources. Furthermore, 26,526, or 73.7 per cent, were over 10 years old.

Passenger cars amounted to 400,221 – of these 288,720 had a petrol engine, 105,805 a diesel engine and 926 had alternative power sources.

Moreover, 299,979 passenger cars, or 75.0 per cent of the total, were over 10 years old. Passenger cars having a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of between 1,250kg and 1,499kg constituted the largest share, amounting to 145,566, or 36.4 per cent of the total.

Sea Transport

A substantial number of the yachts arriving in Malta during 2014 – 32 vessels – were registered in the Cayman Islands.

The highest number of passenger-vessels arriving in Malta – 88 vessels – were registered in Malta. Moreover, as at the end of the year under review, the total number of vessels registered in Malta amounted to 6,667 including 3,242 yachts, 776 fishing vessels, 1,457 dry cargo vessels and 639 liquid bulk vessels.

In 2014, 2,299,032 tons of unitised cargo were unloaded, an increase of 338,633 tons when compared to 2013. The total amount of loaded unitised cargo reached 630,669 tons, an increase of 94,841 tons, or an increase of 17.7 per cent, when compared to the previous year.

As at the end of 2014, the stock of fishing vessels stood at 2,976. MPVs comprised the largest proportion of fishing vessels with 1,333, or 44.8 per cent of the total. The largest registration group of fishing vessels was the MFC, totalling 1,927 vessels. Fishing vessels registered in the South Eastern district account for 34.5 per cent of the total.

During the year under review, the number of cruise liner calls totalled 303, an increase of 17 over 2013. Transit passengers amounted to 425,134, an increase of 11.8 per cent over the previous year. Embarkations from and landings in Malta stood at 47,021 and 46,420 persons respectively.

Commuters between Malta and Gozo increased by 5.6 per cent, to 4,643,041. Furthermore, 1,278,948 vehicles were carried by scheduled Gozo Channel ferries, up by 7.8 per cent when compared to 2013.

During the year under review, the number of inter-island trips amounted to 19,860, up by 1.2 per cent from 2013.