Traffic accidents were less frequent last year but the total still topped 14,000, official figures have shown.

The 14,070 incidents recorded were actually a 3.3 per cent drop over 2012, according to the National Statistics Office.

Collisions were most common in the north harbour area, with 5,313 cases – or 37 per cent of the island’s total – in that region.

During 2013, a total of 927 men and 655 women were hurt in traffic accidents – 18 died.

Cars were involved in 71 per cent of accidents, while 17 per cent involved motorcycles.

Fontana in Gozo safest place to drive

Analysing the results by locality, most occurred in Birkirkara (845) with Qormi (794) and Marsa (738) following close behind.

Rounding out the list of top 10 towns for accidents were Msida, Naxxar, St Paul’s Bay, Paola, Mosta, San Ġwann and St Julian’s.

Fontana in Gozo, on the other hand, was the safest place to drive, with just seven accidents in 2013.

Sunday was the safest day to be on the road, while the start of the working week saw the highest number of accidents.

Unsurprisingly, the highest number of night-time collisions occurred during the weekend.