There was an 18.1% drop in accident rate across the Sultanate until the end of June this year compared to the same period last year. The number of accidents declined to 1,989 compared to 2,430 during the same period last year, according to Royal Oman Police provisional figures released by the (NCSI).

Compared to May this year, when the total number of accidents was 354, in June there were 385 accidents. The total number of deaths from accidents until June this year was 314 against 336 during the comparable period last year, a fall 6.5%.  There were 203 Omanis among the dead, of whom 161 were males and 42 females, against 213 last year. The number of expatriates who died in accidents until June this year was 111 against 123 last year (a drop of 9.8%), of whom 97 males and 14 females were, the data showed. There was a 2.7% fall in the number of injured to 1,589 this year as against 1,633 until the end of June 2016. Among the injured, there were 1,172 Omanis as against 1,246 last year. Among expatriates the number of death this year was 417, when it was 387 during the same period last year, the NCSI figures showed.

Of the total number of accidents 52% happened during night. Among the governorates, Muscat topped with the highest rate of traffic accidents at 31.2% until June this year, followed by Al Batinah South with 12.5%, Dhofar with 10.1% and Adh Dhahira with 9.9%. The rate of accidents in the rest of the governorates came to 36.4%, the data revealed. The total number of accidents at the end of 2016 was 4,721 and total number of injured was 3,261. Last year, 432 Omanis died in accidents and the total death among the expatriate community was 260. Among the injured last year, there were 2,439 Omanis, and 822 expatriates, the figures showed.

There was a 25% fall in the number of vehicles registered in the Sultanate until the end of June this year. The total number of vehicles registered during the period stood at 38,649 compared to 51,503 until last year, according to the statistics, released by the NCSI. The number of private vehicles registered was 28 thousand and 703 compared to 37 thousand and 452 last year, a fall of 23.4%. The number of commercial vehicles registered too declined 38.7% to 6,919 from 11,288 last year while rental vehicle registered increased by 23.2% to 2,358 compared to 1,914 during the same period last year.

The number of taxis registered too fell 31.9% to 213 compared to 313 and the number of motorbikes declined 8.8% to 330 against 362 in 2016. Only 30 diplomatic vehicles were registered this year compared to 45 last year, a fall of 33.3%. The number of tractors fell by 60% to 10 compared to 25 during the comparable period last year and the number of driving school vehicles registered fell 17.3% to 86 until the end of June this year compared to 104 vehicles last year, the NCSI data revealed. There were one million 408 thousand and 536 vehicles on the road in the Sultanate at the end of June 2017, the NCSI data showed.

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