38% decline in road accidents in Oman

While there were 1,989 accidents from January to June in 2017, the number stood at 1,236 in the same period this year.

Wrong overtaking

The ROP has said that wrong overtaking has been a cause for road accidents on many occasions. “Last year witnessed 131 such accidents caused by wrong overtaking,” the ROP said.

It has advised motorists to drive safely. “Drive carefully and overtake properly,” stated the ROP.

Drop in accidents

This year January saw a significant drop in accidents at 194 compared to 318 in the same period of last year. February this year witnessed 224 accidents as against 287 in the previous year.

March this year saw a drop to 179 from 290 in the same period of last year while April saw the biggest drop in accidents - from 355 last year to 200 this year - a fall of 155.

In May this year, the number of accidents fell to 217 compared to 354 in the same period of last year. Finally, June this year saw 222 accidents compared to 385 in the same period of last year.

Less accident-related injuries this year

As a result of fall in the number of road accidents, injuries too have come down. Figures from the National Centre for Statistics and Information show that the number of injuries in the first six months of this year stood at 1,441, down from 1,589 during the same period of last year, a 9.31 per cent drop.

From January to June this year, 1,018 Omanis and 423 expatriates were injured, while 1,172 Omanis and 417 expatriates were injured in the same period of last year.

Slight fall in deaths

There were a total of 313 deaths including 189 Omanis from accidents in the first six months of 2018, with June witnessing the maximum at 65.

January had 43, February 62, March 50, April 48 and May registered 45 deaths.

The first half of last year saw 314 deaths from accidents.

The number of Omanis killed in June alone this year saw a 17.9 per cent jump compared to June 2017, when 39 were killed. It increased to 46 this June.

However, there was a 52.5 per cent fall in the number of expatriates killed in June this year at 19 compared to 39 in the same period of last year,

Muscat, South Batinah top accident list

In June this year, 19.4 per cent of the accidents took place each in Muscat and South Batinah, 14 per cent in North Batinah, 12.2 per cent in Dhofar and the remaining 35 per cent in other governorates.

The rate of accidents in Muscat has come down this year in June as the capital city registered 31.2 per cent of the total accidents during the same period last year. In June this year, 61 per cent of the accidents took place at night across the country.