Three road fatalities in first quarter

The number of reported traffic accidents reached 3,618 in the first quarter of this year, representing a drop of 294, or 7.5 per cent, over the same quarter last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

The number of accidents in the southern eastern district registered a marginal increase of 1.1 per cent. The Southern harbour, northern harbour, western and northern districts registered 27, 94, 72 and 83 fewer cases.

In Gozo the number of accidents slipped by 22 to 168.

A total of 126 drivers sustained injuries with 94 suffering only slight injuries. There were 29 drivers who sustained grievous injuries and three died, all male. During the same period, 40 pedestrians and 65 passengers were injured.

The number of slightly injured persons reached 166. Of these, 93 were male and the rest female.

In the 15-24 and 25-39 age groups, 32 and 23 males suffered slight injuries. The number of injured females in the same age groups was 11 and 25 respectively. Persons sustaining grievous and fatal injuries totalled 65, 42 were male and the remainder female.

In the first quarter of last year, there were 231 reported casualties. Of these, 180, or 77.9 per cent, were caused by passenger cars, while 25, or 10.8 per cent, were caused by motorcycles.

There were 69 casualties in the 25-39 age group, 51 of them occurring to passenger car travellers.

In the quarter under review, 120, or 51.9 per cent, of the reported casualties occurred between Friday and Sunday.

The three fatalities, however, happened on a Monday, a Thursday and a Saturday.