Oman’s traffic accident toll declined in February: NCSI data

Muscat: The number of traffic accidents reportedly declined again in February, according to data from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), compared with the same month last year.
Road accidents in the Sultanate recorded a massive decline of 28.4 per cent, which dropped to 333, compared with February 2015. Injuries also decreased by 22.1 per cent and deaths by 3.7 per cent, where 207 and 45 respectively were recorded, compared with the same month last year.
The decrease in vehicle registrations could also be linked to the decline in the number of accidents, where a 2.8 per cent slump in new vehicle registrations was recorded, compared with February 2015, according to NCSI data.
During the first two months of 2016, 17,424 new vehicles were registered in the country where, as of February, there are over 1.3 million vehicles on Omani roads. In February alone, 8,570 vehicles were registered, of which 450 were government vehicles, which recorded an increase of 124.5 per cent, up from the same month last year.
Compared with January 2016, there is a 29.7 per cent increase in new government vehicle registrations in February, while private vehicle registrations dropped by 8.2 per cent to 5,586 vehicles, and taxi registrations slipped 15 per cent to 39.
This year in February, 27 Omanis, six of them females, lost their lives in different road accidents, which reflects a 2.9 per cent jump, compared with the same month last year. Expatriates registered a 16.2 per cent drop in deaths due to road accidents, with 18 deaths being reported, including that of one female.
Last year, Oman recorded 6,279 accidents, where 3,624 were injured and 675 died. 458 Omanis and 217 expatriates lost their lives due to road mishaps.
Speeding was recorded as the number one cause of accidents, due to which 383 lives were claimed and 1,728 were injured in 3,411 accidents.