Traffic accidents in the Sultanate registered a significant 32.5% drop during the first four months of the current year at 1,413 compared with 2,092 accidents reported during the same period last year, says the latest report by the (NCSI).

However, traffic fatalities increased by 1.4% during the January-April period, taking the death toll to 210, from 207 deaths recorded last year. Injuries suffered in road accidents declined by 22.8% to 903, as against last year's 1,170 injuries. Injuries among Omani nationals dropped 22.5% to 687, while the decrease in injuries was 23.7% among expatriates at 216. Gender-wise, there was a significant 32.2% drop in the number of Omani women injured in road accidents at 166, as against 18.8% drop in the number of injured Omani men at 521.

In the case of expatriates too, the fall in the number of injuries was pronounced among females, which decreased 48.9% to 24. Expatriate male injuries went down by 18.6% to 192, over the four-month period. The report notes that the number of expatriates who lost their lives in road accidents went up considerably during the period to 69 deaths, marking a 7.8% increase over the number of deaths recorded for the same period last year. Also, the number of expatriate females who died in road accidents increased by a significant 114.3% to 15. At the same time, expatriate males who died in road accidents came down 5.3% to 54 during the period.

Further, the number of Omani nationals who died in road mishaps declined by 1.4% to 141. Omani females who died in road accidents decreased 7.7% to 24, while the number of Omani males who died in traffic mishaps remained the same at 117 during the comparable periods. Meanwhile, the total number of accidents on the Sultanate's roads last year stood at 6,279, with 3,624 injuries and 675 deaths.