Safer roads: Accidents in Oman decline by more than 28 per cent

Muscat: Road accidents in the Sultanate registered an almost 29 per cent decline in the first three months of the year.
The number of road accidents in the Sultanate during the first quarter of 2017 declined by 28.8 per cent to 895 incidents, as against 1,257 road mishaps during the same period in 2016, according to the latest update from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Road accidents in January, February and March 2017 were reported to be 318,287 and 290 respectively.
Category wise, injuries fell 16.3 per cent to 691 while deaths decreased 6.3 per cent to 150 during the period, compared with last year.
The number of the Omanis injured in road accidents declined 19.2 per cent to 516 (144 of them females) while the number of the Omanis, who died in road accidents increased by 1.9 per cent to 108 (24 of them females) by the end of March this year, in comparison with the figures for the same period last year.
The number of injured expatriates dwindled 6.4 per cent to 175 (including 13 females) while expatriates who died in road accidents fell 22.2 per cent to 42 people (including one female) during the period.
In March, Governorate of Muscat logged the highest number of road accidents with a share of 27.6 per cent of the total mishaps in the Sultanate, followed by the Governorate of South Al Batinah at 20.3 per cent while the Governorates of A’Dhahirah and South A’Sharqyiah, each of them reporting 11.7 per cent of the total road accidents in Oman.
Also, 61 per cent of the road accidents in the Sultanate in March happened in the day time, the NCSI report said.