37 per cent decline in Oman road accidents

Muscat: The Sultanate recorded a significant 37.3 per cent decline in the number of road accidents during the first 10 months of the current year compared to figures for the same period last year, which fell from 5,440 accidents in 2015 to 3,411 this year, according to the latest update from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
While injuries fell 25.8 per cent, the number of fatalities increased by 0.5 per cent during the period.
Injuries came down to 2,337 from last year’s 3,148, which involved 1,742 Omanis and 595 expatriates. On the other hand, deaths went up from last year’s 562 to 565 this year. As many as 361 Omanis and 204 expatriates lost their lives in road accidents during the period.
Injured Omani males numbered 1,310, as against 432 Omani females, while among expatriates the number of injured involved 514 males and 81 females.
During the period, as many as 304 Omani males and 57 Omani females, as well as 178 expatriate males and 26 expatriate females lost lives in road accidents.
In October, 349 accidents were reported, which led to 224 injuries and 57 deaths. As many as 40 Omanis and 17 expatriates died in road accidents in October, which comprised 37 Omani males, 3 Omani females, and 17 expatriate males, according to NCSI report.
The number of new vehicles registered in the Sultanate during the first 10 months of the current year registered a decline of 8.3 per cent compared with figures for the same period last year.
The total number of new vehicles registered by the end of October declined to 84,932 from 92,609 registrations recorded during the period of 2015.
Private vehicle registrations fell by 4.6 per cent to 60,158, while commercial vehicles declined by 18.7 per cent to 17,182. Rental vehicle registrations saw a 22.3 per cent decrease, even as registrations of taxis went down by 16 per cent to 541.
Registered new motorbikes logged a 26 per cent dip to 576, while diplomatic vehicle registrations went up by 6 per cent to 71 during the period.
Registration of driving school vehicles too increased by 10 per cent to 176 new vehicles.
Tractors logged a lower number of registrations, which fell by 30.2 per cent to 37 vehicles during the period. Temporary vehicle registrations however went up by 15 per cent to 3,047.
As many as 7,773 vehicles were registered in the month of October, according to the NCSI data.
The total number of vehicles on the road as of the end of October stood at over 1.35 million.