The number of licensed motor vehicles on the roads at the end of September was 344,543, up by one per cent over the previous quarter, the NSO said today.

Of these, 79.2 per cent were passenger cars, 13.9 per cent were commercial vehicles, 5.7 per cent were motorcycles, while buses and minibuses accounted for less than one per cent.

New licences

New licences issued during the period under review amounted to 5,517. The majority of new licences (4,257 or 77.2 per cent of the total) were issued to passenger cars, followed by motorcycles with 573. Newly-licensed ‘new’ motor vehicles amounted to 2,374, or 43.0 per cent of the total, and newly licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 3,143.

In the third quarter this year, 142 vehicles were exported. Garaged vehicles amounted to 1,791, while scrapped vehicles totalled 1,547.

Engine type

As at the end of September this year, 209,028 vehicles, or 60.7 per cent of the total, had petrol engines. Vehicles with diesel engines reached 134,144, or 38.9 per cent of the total.

See details on pdf below NSO statement 1.

Accidents

The number of reported traffic accidents reached 3,293, a decrease of 13.4 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year. Decreases were recorded in all districts. The Northern Harbour district registered the majority of accidents, with 1,184, or 36.0 per cent of all accidents.

In total, 463 traffic casualties were reported, of which 271 involved drivers. Slight injuries in this group reached 231 and another 39 were reported as grievous. The injuries suffered by one driver were fatal. During this period, 53 other persons (23 passengers and 30 pedestrians) suffered grievous injuries, while 139 (97 passengers and 42 pedestrians) were slightly injured. 

On a gender basis, slightly-injured persons in the third quarter numbered 370: 202 males and 168 females. Grievously-injured persons totalled 92, the majority being males. The fatality comprised one female. The majority of casualties fell in the 26-40 age bracket.

The largest number of traffic casualties (71.7 per cent) involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (16.8 per cent), while goods-carrying vehicles were involved in 8.2 per cent of casualties.

The highest traffic casualty rate occurred on Fridays, accounting for 19.0 per cent apiece of total casualties. The highest accident rate was also recorded on Fridays, totalling 554 cases, and the lowest on Sundays, with 326 cases. However, Sundays topped the highest casualty-to-accident ratio (Table 9).

The daily time bracket in which most accidents occurred was between 09:00 and 11:59, with 738 cases, or 22.4 per cent of the total. This was followed by the 12:00-14:59 time bracket, with 649 cases. The lowest number of accidents occurring daily took place between 03:00 and 05:59 (90 cases) (Table 10).

Birkirkara registered the highest rate of traffic accidents, with 242 cases, followed by St. Paul’s Bay and Qormi with 197 and 141 reported accidents respectively.

See details on pdf below.