During the second quarter of 2016, there were five traffic fatalities, the National Statistics Office said today. The number of reported traffic accidents in the second quarter reached 4,331, up by 5.9 per cent over the comparative period in 2015.

The Northern Harbour district registered the most accidents with 1,647 cases or 38.0 per cent of all accidents.

Traffic casualties increased by 8.7 per cent to 498 over 2015, of which 321 (64.5 per cent) involved drivers. The amount of slight injuries sustained by drivers was 273 and 46 cases were reported as grievous. Another 34 persons (9 passengers and 25 pedestrians) suffered grievous injuries.

There were also 100 passengers and 40 pedestrians who were slightly injured. Furthermore, the injuries suffered by two drivers, one passenger, one pedestrian and one cyclist were fatal. From the beginning of this year till end of June, the number of road traffic fatalities amounted to nine cases.

On a gender basis, slightly-injured persons in the first quarter this year amounted to 413: 236 males and 177 females. Grievously-injured persons totalled 80, the majority being males. The fatalities comprised of four males and one female. The majority of casualties fell in the 26-40 age bracket.

The largest number of traffic casualties (66.9 per cent) were caused by passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (22.3 per cent) and goods-carrying vehicles (6.8 per cent).

The highest traffic casualty rate occurred on Sundays, accounting for 17.5 per cent of total casualties, while the highest number of accidents were recorded on Mondays, totalling 692 cases, and the lowest was recorded on Sundays, with 464 cases. Sundays topped the highest casualty-to-accidents ratio, with 18.8 per cent compared to an overall average of 11.5 per cent.

The daily time bracket in which most accidents occurred was between 12:00-14:59, with 922 cases, or 21.3 per cent of the total. This was followed by the 15:00-17:59 time bracket, with 907 cases. The least number of accidents occurring daily took place between 03:00 and 05:59 (91 cases).

The highest rate of traffic accidents was registered in Birkirkara with 354 cases. Hal Qormi and Marsa were next, with 225 and 207 reported accidents respectively

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