There were 214 reported traffic accidents in Gozo during the fourth quarter of last year, down by 16, or 7.0% on 2021, the National Statistics Office said today.
Of these, 190 were reported as non-injury road traffic accidents, a decrease of 7, or 3.6% on 2021. There were 24 reported with injuries involved, down by 9, or 27.3%. There was 1 fatal accident in Gozo during the fourth quarter.
Victoria recorded the highest number of accidents with 73, this was followed by Xewkija with 38, Xaghra with 27, Ghajnsielem 21 and Nadur 14. The others all registered below 10 accidents.
Also in Gozo, Kercem, San Lawrenz and Ghasri registered less than five road traffic accidents, while Fontana didn’t register any at all during the fourth quarter.
On a national basis, the NSO said that during the fourth quarter of 2022, road traffic accidents and casualties increased when compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Road traffic fatalities amounted to seven.
The number of reported traffic accidents during this period reached 3,816, up by 3.2% over the same period in 2021. The Northern Harbour district registered the most accidents with 1,297 cases or 34.0% of all accidents.
Road traffic casualties increased by 0.5% to 381 over the same period in 2021. Grievously injured persons amounted to 84, and consisted of 52 drivers, 5 passengers and 27 pedestrians/cyclists/others.
The injuries suffered by three drivers and four pedestrians proved fatal, the NSO said.
It noted that during this quarter, two more fatalities occurred when compared to the same period in 2021. The majority of those grievously injured were males (73.8%).
Moreover, the NSO said that five of the fatalities that occurred during this quarter involved males while the two other fatalities involved females. 34.9% of the casualties involved persons in the 26 to 40 age-bracket.
The largest number of road traffic casualties (54.9%) involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (32.0%) and goods-carrying vehicles (7.3%).
The seven fatalities included two drivers colliding vehicle with vehicle, a vehicle crashing into a property killing the driver and four pedestrians being hit by a vehicle.
Cyclists involved in traffic accidents amounted to 11, where two suffered insignificant injuries, five suffered slight injuries and four suffered grievous injuries. Road traffic casualties resulting from accidents between vehicles topped the list with 67.5% of all road traffic casualties.
The highest incidence of road traffic accidents was registered in Birkirkara with 246 cases, followed by Qormi and Mosta, with 201 and 193 cases respectively. Mtarfa registered less than five road traffic accidents.
The Northern Harbour and Northern districts recorded a decrease in road traffic accidents, while the other districts recorded increases in road traffic accidents, when compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year.
The NSO said that the Southern Harbour district registered the highest percentage increase in road traffic accidents at 16.9%, followed by the South Eastern district at 11.7%.
The number of fatalities during 2022 reached 28, up by 19 when compared to the previous year. In 2022, 1,341 injury accidents were reported, a 5.2% increase (66 accidents) when compared to 2021.
Moreover, 14,372 non-injury accidents were reported, an 11.8% increase (1,512 accidents) when compared to the previous year. The second quarter of 2022 recorded the highest number of accidents (4,240) while the first quarter of 2022 recorded the highest number of fatalities.
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1 Comment To "214 traffic accidents reported in Gozo during the fourth quarter"
#1 Comment By Anthony Zammit On March 4, 2023 @ 9:35 am
I am not going to try and cover all the aspect of accidents by motorcycles but I can speak of personal experience. The world is encouraged to change to all electric transportation and the most affordable one is an electric motorbike. Unfortunately these bikes are not built to withstand holes which we have in our roads so the driver cannot help but zig-zag to avoid damaging his chassis. Maybe this is the main reason because following cars do not expect sudden changes.
I am very pleased that most of car owners pull to the left of the road to create room for bikes to go by taking into consideration that many hungry customers are waiting for their food to be delivered by motorbike transportation.
Motorbikes create less congestion on the roads and they should be welcomed and appreciated.