The number of reported traffic accidents during the fourth quarter of 2023 reached 3,977, up by 4.2 per cent over the same period in 2022. The Northern Harbour district registered the most accidents with 1,432 cases or 36.0 per cent of all accidents (Table 1).
Road traffic casualties increased by 12.1 per cent to 427 over the same period in 2022. Grievously injured persons amounted to 110, and consisted of 66 drivers, 9 passengers and 35 pedestrians/cyclists/others. The injuries suffered by three drivers and four pedestrians proved fatal (Tables 4-6). During this quarter, the same amount of fatalities occurred when compared to the same period in 2022 (Chart 1).
The majority of those grievously injured were males (79.1 per cent). Moreover, the fatalities that occurred during this quarter involved five males and two females. As regard to age cohorts, 37.9 per cent of the casualties involved persons in the 26 to 40 age bracket (Chart 2 and Table 5).
Chart 1. Road traffic accidents and fatalities by period
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The largest number of road traffic casualties (55.3 per cent) involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (33.3 per cent) and goods-carrying vehicles (5.2 per cent). The seven fatalities included a driver colliding with another vehicle, two drivers crashing into a property and four pedestrians being hit by a vehicle. Cyclists involved in traffic accidents amounted to six, where three suffered grievous injuries and three suffered slight injuries (Tables 6-7). Road traffic casualties resulting from accidents between vehicles topped the list with 69.6 per cent of all road traffic casualties (Table 7).
The highest number of road traffic casualties occurred on Fridays with 77 casualties, and the highest number of road traffic accidents occurred on Tuesdays with 665 cases or 16.7 per cent of the total (Table 8). The time bracket with the highest number of road traffic accidents occurred between 09:00 – 11:59 with 923 cases or 23.2 per cent of the total, followed by the 12:00 – 14:59 time bracket with 906 cases. The least number of accidents occurring daily took place between 03:00 – 05:59 with 53 cases (Table 9).
The highest incidence of road traffic accidents was registered in Birkirkara with 287 cases, followed by Ħal Qormi and San Pawl Il-Baħar, with 240 and 201 cases respectively (Table 10, Map 1 and Chart 5).
Ta’ Kerċem, Il-Fontana, Il-Munxar, L-Għasri and San Lawrenz registered less than five road traffic accidents (Map 1 and Table 10).
Map 1. Road traffic accidents by locality: October-December 2023
All districts recorded an increase in road traffic accidents except for the South Eastern and Gozo and Comino district, which recorded a decrease, when compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year. The Northern Harbour district registered the highest percentage increase in road traffic accidents at 10.4 per cent, followed by the Northern district at 6.6 per cent (Table 1 and Map 2).
Map 2. Percentage change in road traffic accidents by district: October-December 2023/2022
Annual Perspective
The number of fatalities during 2023 reached 16, down by 12 when compared to the previous year (Chart 1). In 2023, the reported injury accidents amounted to 1,390, an increase of 49 accidents, or 3.7 per cent when compared to 2022. Moreover, non-injury accidents amounted to 15,024, an increase of 652 accidents or 4.5 per cent over the cases reported during the previous year (Tables 2-3). The third quarter of 2023 recorded the highest number of accidents (4,351) while the fourth quarter of 2023 recorded the highest number of fatalities (7) (Chart 1).
Additional Tables and Charts
Chart 2. Road traffic casualties by age group and gender
October-December 2023
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