Salient Points
- There were four road traffic fatalities involving three males and one female during July-September 2026.
- During the third quarter of 2026, road traffic accidents decreased by 0.2 per cent, and casualties decreased by 18.4 per cent, when compared to the same period in 2025.
- Between July-September 2026, the highest number of road traffic accidents occurred on Wednesdays with 662 cases or 16.9 per cent of the total.
- Birkirkara and San Pawl Il-Baħar registered the highest number of road traffic accidents at 225 cases.
Commentary
The number of reported traffic accidents during the third quarter of 2026 reached 3,909, down by 0.2 per cent over the same period in 2025. The Northern Harbour district registered the most accidents with 1,231 cases or 31.5 per cent of all accidents (Table 1).
Road traffic casualties decreased by 18.4 per cent to 319 over the same period in 2025. Grievously injured persons amounted to 115, and consisted of 72 drivers, 16 passengers and 27 pedestrians/cyclists/others. The injuries sustained by three drivers and one passenger proved fatal (Tables 4-6). During this quarter, three fewer fatalities were registered when compared to the same period in 2025 (Chart 1).
The majority of those grievously injured were males (74.8 per cent). Moreover, the fatalities that occurred during this quarter involved three males and one female. With regard to age cohorts, 36.7 per cent of the casualties involved persons in the 26 to 40 age bracket (Chart 2 and Table 5).
The largest number of road traffic casualties (47.3 per cent) involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (41.7 per cent) and goods-carrying vehicles (8.2 per cent). The fatalities included three drivers involved in collisions with other vehicles and one passenger involved in a collision with property. A total of six cyclists were involved in road traffic accidents. Of these, two sustained grievous injuries, two sustained slight injuries and two sustained insignificant injuries (Tables 6-7). Road traffic casualties resulting from accidents between vehicles accounted for 56.7 per cent of all road traffic casualties (Table 7).
The highest number of road traffic casualties occurred on Wednesdays with 58 casualties, and the highest number of road traffic accidents also occurred on Wednesdays with 662 cases or 16.9 per cent of the total (Table 8). The highest number of road traffic accidents occurred between 09:00 and 11:59, with 876 cases or 22.4 per cent of the total, followed by those occurring between 12:00 and 14:59, with 859 cases. The lowest number of accidents occurring daily took place between 03:00 and 05:59, with 65 cases (Table 9).
The highest number of road traffic accidents was recorded in Birkirkara and San Pawl Il-Baħar, with 225 cases each, followed by Ħal Qormi, with 204 cases (Table 10, Map 1 and Chart 5).
L-Imdina, Il-Fontana, San Lawrenz, L-Għasri and Ta’ Kerċem recorded fewer than five road traffic accidents (Map 1 and Table 10).
Map 1. Road traffic accidents by locality: July-September 2026
Road traffic accidents increased in the Southern Harbour, South Eastern and Western districts, while decreases were recorded in the Northern Harbour, Northern and Gozo and Comino districts. The Southern Harbour district registered the highest percentage increase in road traffic accidents, at 7.7 per cent, while Gozo and Comino recorded the largest percentage decrease, at 9.0 per cent (Table 1 and Map 2).
Map 2. Percentage change in road traffic accidents by district: July-September 2026/2025
Tables
- xlsx Table 1. Total road traffic accidents by period and region/district 19.00 KB
- xlsx Table 2. Non-injury road traffic accidents by period and region/district 18.96 KB
- xlsx Table 3. Injury road traffic accidents by period and region/district 18.90 KB
- xlsx Table 4. Road traffic casualties by period, injury type, region/district and road traffic unit 22.36 KB
- xlsx Table 5. Road traffic casualties by period, injury type, gender and age group 17.71 KB
- xlsx Table 6. Road traffic casualties by period, injury type, road traffic unit and vehicle type 19.63 KB
- xlsx Table 7. Road traffic casualties by period, injury type, road traffic unit and accident type 19.18 KB
- xlsx Table 8. Road traffic casualties and accidents by day of the week: July-September 2026 67.30 KB
- xlsx Table 9. Road traffic accidents by day of the week and time bracket: July-September 2026 19.41 KB
- xlsx Table 10. Road traffic accidents by period and district/locality 23.18 KB
- xlsx All Tables 118.38 KB
Methodological Notes
1. Road traffic accidents data is compiled from administrative information provided by the Malta Police Force and the Malta Insurance Association (LESA).
2. Definitions:
a. Total road traffic accidents consist of the road traffic accidents involving casualties (police reports) and the minor road traffic accidents without casualties (police and warden reports).
b. Non-injury (minor) road traffic accidents refer to accidents assessed by wardens and/or the police involving at least one vehicle and in which no persons are injured. Non-injury road traffic accidents which are either not reported or directly reported to insurance agencies by means of the Traffic Accident Form (i.e. where no police or wardens are called on the accident scene and are settled by the completion of the relevant form) are not accounted for.
c. Insignificant injury is determined by the police as the sustaining of a very minimal injury (e.g. bruise, scratch, etc.) or shock due to accident which, in most cases, requires very basic treatment or no treatment at all.
d. The definition of slight injury is as listed in Art. 221 et sequitur of the Criminal Code, Chapter 9 of the Laws of Malta.
e. The definition of grievous injury is as listed in Art. 216 et sequitur of the Criminal Code, Chapter 9 of the Laws of Malta.
f. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) defines road fatal injury as: “Any person who was killed outright or who died within 30 days as a result of the accident”.
g. Road traffic accident fatalities data may be subject to revisions. For certain cases, the NSO may need to wait for the cause of the fatality to be duly established by the conclusions of a magisterial inquiry.
3. The casualty-to-accident ratio indicates the risk level of suffering an injury in an accident. Therefore, a higher percentage rate means that the corresponding accidents were more serious (i.e. more persons were injured).
4. Data is subject to revision.
5. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:
Sources and Methods
Statistical Concepts
Spatial divisions for MALTA
6. A detailed news release calendar is available online.
7. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately. For guidance on access and re-use of data please visit our dedicated webpage.
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