Muscat: With long Eid holidays spanning across two weekends announced today, Royal Oman Police (ROP) has urged people to check out the road worthiness of their vehicles before hitting the roads.
The traffic department has called upon the motorists to ensure that vehicles are properly maintained, especially the readiness of the brakes, batteries, rear lights, tyres, the coolants levels, change of engine oil, spare tyres, availability of repair tools and the First Aid.
ROP added that 51 per cent of the accidents happen due to over-speeding, 15 per cent due to vehicle faults, 13 per cent due to wrong overtaking and 21 per cent to other reasons.
Giving a ster warning, it said penalties that include the imprisonment of not less than 10 ten days, not exceeding two months and a fine of not less than RO100 and not more than RO500, shall be imposed on traffic violations
such as over speeding and reckless driving.
It urged motorists to be careful, especially while driving late night or early morning due to the possibility of foggy conditons both in Dhofar and enroute.
According to National Centre of Statistics and Information (NCSI), sixty-one per cent of accidents that took place in the Sultanate in June 2018 were at night. The governorates of Muscat and North Batinah reported the maximum number of accidents during the period.
Though the number of road accidents declined by 41.9 per cent in June 2018 compared with the same period a year ago, a total of 222 accidents were reported in June this year, compared with 217 in May and 200 in April.
ROP says 131 out of the 3,845 traffic incidents reported in 2017 were because of wrong overtaking.
The number of deaths due to road accidents declined by 17.7 per cent in June compared with the same period last year.
A total of 65 accident-related deaths were reported in June this year, 45 in May and 48 in April.
Out of the 65 accident-related deaths reported in June, 46 are Omanis and 19 expatriates.
A total of 22 Omanis and 23 expatriates lost their lives in May, while 27 Omanis and 21 expatriates lost their lives in April.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
