The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

A TOTAL of 54 people died as a result of traffic accidents in 2017, according to Royal Bahamas Police Force crime statistics.

There were 118 traffic incidents with serious injuries and 2,207 accidents with minor injuries in the same period.

The 54 traffic related deaths that occurred in 2017 represent an increase when compared to the 2016 total.

2016 recorded 44 traffic related deaths. In 2015, there were 55 traffic related deaths— the most in a year since 2009, when 56 people were killed.

In 2017, 54 people were killed in 49 separate accidents. The majority of these occurred on New Providence, where there were 33 fatal accidents. Five fatal accidents occurred in Grand Bahama, four in Abaco, three in Andros and one each in Exuma, Bimini, Long Island, and Eleuthera.

New Providence also recorded three double traffic fatalities, Grand Bahama recorded two, and Abaco recorded one.

Males accounted for the majority of traffic related deaths, as 43 (80 per cent) of the victims were men and 11 (20 per cent) were women.

According to the statistics, 16 of the deceased were pedestrians, 15 were drivers, 14 were passengers, seven were motorcycle riders, there was one pillion (motorcycle passenger) and one was a bicyclist.

Bahamians accounted for 78 per cent of traffic related deaths, a decrease from 2016 when Bahamians represented over 90 per cent of traffic fatality victims. Other nationalities included Haitian (15 per cent), Cuban (two per cent) and Italian (five per cent).

The majority of the victims were between the ages of 26 and 35 (28 per cent). Ten of the victims (18 per cent) were between the ages of 18 and 25.

Most of the deaths took place in December, when eight people died. October, September, July, and January each recorded five deaths. There were four deaths in April 2017.

Most of the fatalities occurred on a Monday, with 11 deaths. There were 10 deaths on a Sunday and Saturday, and six on a Wednesday.

Additionally, most traffic fatalities occurred between 4pm and midnight, or 53 per cent. The data shows 27 per cent of the deaths occurred between 8am and 4pm while 20 per cent occurred between midnight and 8 am.

In terms of traffic incidents demographics, in 2017 there was a major increase in traffic accidents with serious injuries. There were 118 such accidents in 2017, compared to 91 in 2016 and 92 in 2015.

There were 2,207 traffic incidents with minor injuries, which is also an increase from 2,166 such incidents in 2016 and 2,049 such incidents in 2015.

There were also 8,084 “damage only” traffic accidents in 2017, up from 7,684 in 2016.

There were 1,204 “hit and run” traffic accidents in 2017, up from 1,188 in 2016.

Last year there was also 1,368 reported traffic offences, down from 1,593 offences in 2016.

There were also 11,930 fixed penalty notices issued in New Providence in 2017, and 19,829 issued throughout the country.