Road traffic accidents dropped by 5.6 per cent in the first three months of the year, but the roads still claimed six lives, official data issued today shows.

The number of reported accidents between January and the end of March was 3,508, an average of 39 accidents per day.

Traffic casualties decreased by 13.7 per cent to 403 over the same period in 2016, 244 (60.5 per cent) involved drivers.

210 drivers suffered slight or insignificant injuries, but there were 30 cases where injuries were grievous. Another 30 persons (six passengers and 24 pedestrians/cyclists/others) suffered grievous injuries.

There were also 84 passengers and 43 pedestrians/cyclist/others who were slightly/insignificantly injured.  

Four drivers, one passenger and one pedestrian were killed. Five were men and one woman. 

The majority of casualties fell in the 26-40 age bracket.

The largest number of road traffic casualties (68.2 per cent) involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (19.4 per cent) and goods-carrying vehicles (6.0 per cent). Of the six fatalities, three were caused by passenger cars, one by a motorcycle, one by a quadricycle and another one by a goods-carrying vehicle.

The highest road traffic casualty rate occurred on Mondays, accounting for 15.6 per cent of total casualties, while the highest number of accidents was recorded on Fridays.

Sundays topped the highest casualty-to-accidents ratio, with 15.7 per cent compared to an overall average of 11.5 per cent.

The daily time bracket in which most accidents occurred was between noon and 3pm, with 743 cases, or 21.2 per cent of the total. This was followed by the 3-6pm  time bracket, with 729 cases. 

The least number of accidents occurring daily took place between midnight and 3am (64 cases).

The highest rate of traffic accidents was registered in Birkirkara with 294 cases, followed by Mosta and Qormi with 148 and 145 reported accidents respectively.