The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the number of road accidents in Q4 of 2023 increased by 24.23 per cent from Q3 of 2023.

The NBS Road Transport Data Q4 2023 Report released Friday said the total road accidents recorded were 2,717 in Q4 2023, showing an increase of 24.23 per cent from Q3 2023, which recorded 2,187.

“However, on a year-on-year basis, traffic accidents decreased by 33.12 per cent from 3,617 recorded in Q4 of 2022,’’ the bureau stated.

It said dis-aggregating the accidents into categories showed that serious cases in Q4 2023 were the highest at 1,772, compared to fatal and minor cases at 687 and 258, respectively.

“The quarter-on-quarter analysis also showed that fatal accidents increased by 29.13 per cent, while serious cases increased by 24.87 and minor cases by 9.32 in Q4 2023 relative to Q3 2023,” NBS said.

The report showed that in terms of the gender distribution of persons killed in the accidents, 1,104 males (adults and children) were killed in Q4 2023, accounting for 83.45 per cent of 1,323 persons killed.

“On the other hand, 219 females (adults and children) were killed in Q4 2023, representing 16.55 per cent,’’ it added.

The report showed that in terms of injuries sustained, more males (adult and child) were injured from the crashes compared to females (adult and child).

“In Q4 2023, injured males stood at 6,929 (adults and children), representing 76.01 per cent of the 9,116 injured persons.

“On the other hand, 2,187 females (adults and children) were injured, representing 23.99 per cent,” it said.

The report said the total number of vehicles involved in road accidents in Q4 2023 increased to 4,195 compared to Q3 2023, which recorded 3,371.

“This indicated an increase of 24.44 per cent in Q4 2023,” it said.

The report showed that of the road accidents, commercial vehicles were mostly affected with 2,306 compared to other categories of vehicles such as private at 1,025, government at 40 and diplomatic at zero.

On zonal analysis, the report revealed that the North-Central recorded the highest number of accidents in Q4 2023 with 905, followed by the South-West with 650, while the South-South recorded the least with 141.

The report said in terms of casualties, the North-Central recorded the highest with 3,152, followed by the North-West with 2,500, while the South-South recorded the least with 412.

(NAN)