MUSCAT, DEC 25 - Deaths by road accidents in the Sultanate plummeted by more than a half during the last five years. “The Sultanate witnessed a remarkable decline in road traffic deaths, as the rate dropped by more than a half from 31.4 per 100,000 persons in 2012 to 14.1 in 2018,” says the First Voluntary National Review report 2019. The decline in fatalities is attributed to the efforts by the Royal Oman Police (ROP). Still statistics reveal that speeding, overtaking and negligence, and bad behaviour are the main causes of road accidents in Oman.
According to figures from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), every three hours one road accident took place on Oman’s roads in 2018 compared to one accident every two hours in 2017. While 637 lives were lost on the roads in 2018, a massive 2,815 people suffered injuries in the same year. The figures released by NCSI this month reveal that 60 per cent of the accidents occur during nights. Speeding accounted for more than 70 per cent of total accidents. While there has been fall of 17.3 per cent in the total number of accidents during the first half, death rate witnessed a drop of 28.6 per cent during the period. The highest number of 210 accidents, according to the NCSI data quoting ROP sources, was in June claiming 50 lives including 33 nationals and 17 foreigners.
SUFFERED INJURIES
Although injuries in the accident fell by 8.7 per cent, the number of females suffered injuries rose to 35 per cent during the period. While Muscat Governorate accounted for 23.8 per cent of the total accidents during the period, governorates of Al Dakhiliyah, Al Batinah North and Dhofar registered 16.2 per cent, 11.9 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively. The remaining 37.6 per cent accidents took place in other governorates.
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