Roads claimed the lives of three people between July and September

The roads claimed the lives of three people in the third quarter as accidents in the period climbed by almost 15%, figures out today show.

A motorcyclist, a passenger on board a car, and a pedestrian hit by a commercial vehicle lost their lives after sustaining injuries that proved fatal. These brought the total traffic fatalities this year to 10.

Two of these fatalities in the third quarter happened in Gozo while the other occurred in the Southern Harbour region.

The National Statistics Office said between July and September there were 4,187 reported traffic accidents with the largest share (36%) happening in the Northern Harbour district.

However, while the number of accidents went up, the NSO said that road traffic casualties declined by 3% to 449, when compared to the same period in 2018.

Grievously injured persons consisted of 39 drivers, 18 passengers and 32 pedestrians, cyclists or other persons. Two-thirds of grievously injured persons were male.

64% of road traffic casualties involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles (28%).

The NSO said that three cyclists were injured in road traffic accidents, two of whom suffered grievous injuries.

Road traffic casualties caused by collisions between vehicles topped the entire list with 72%.

The highest road traffic casualty and road traffic accident rates occurred on Mondays with 83 casualties and 713 accidents.

The time bracket during which most of the road traffic accidents occurred was between 12pm and 2.59pm with 942 cases or 23% of the total, followed closely by the 9am to 11.59am bracket.

The least number of accidents were recorded between 3am and 5.59am.