Statistics from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) showed yesterday that a total of 1,718 people died in traffic accidents between January and October this year, a decrease of 6 percent compared with the same period last year.
The number of injured passengers, meanwhile, rose by 5.7 percent to 195,656.
The ministry periodically conducts statistical analyses of traffic accidents to gauge the effectiveness of efforts to improve road safety.
Aside from the total number of deaths in a given time period, the ministry divides accidents causing passengers deaths into categories A1 and A2. Accidents listed in the A1 category are those leading to the death of passengers on the spot or within 24 hours, whereas those in the A2 category caused death after 24 hours.
The ministry focuses more on the accidents in the A1 category.
The ministry also examined the causes of A1 traffic accidents occurring from January to October. Statistics showed that motor scooter riders caused 727 traffic accidents, which accounted for 44 percent of all A1 accidents. They were followed by drivers of small passenger vehicles, who were to blame for 27.4 percent of all A1 accidents.
They were also the top two causes of A1 traffic accidents in 2007.
When analyzing the death of passengers by the kind of vehicles they were operating, those riding motorcycles were most vulnerable in traffic accidents.
Approximately 1,360 motorscooter riders died in A1 category accidents.
About 22 percent of the victims in the A1 category accidents were aged 70 or above, the most in any age group. They were followed by those aged between 25 and 34, who accounted for approximately 15 percent.
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