Road fatalities reach 366, surpassing total figure for 2024

 

 

 

The country has recorded 366 road fatalities, surpassing the total number recorded for all of 2024.

 

There were 365 deaths from 315 collisions last year.

 

The Island Traffic Authority says the 366 deaths as at December 22, represent a 3 per cent increase over the same period last year when 356 fatalities were recorded.

 

Two single-vehicle crashes in Manchester on Sunday, where a private motorcar passenger and motorcycle driver died, have contributed to the upward movement in the year-to-date figures for 2025.

 

Dr. Lucien Jones, Vice Chairman of the National Road Safety Council, says the most at risk group is motorcyclists, 111 of whom have died this year.

 

He has called for the resumption of a motorcyclist training programme which was discontinued, as a means of reducing fatalities.

 

Dr. Jones said deaths among private motorcar passengers have increased this year. 

 

"Most of the increase has been caused by more private motorcar passengers dying, primarily as a result of excessive speeding and failure to use the seat belts in the front and in the back. The same problem - excessive speeding and carelessness - has caused the increased number of private motor car drivers who have died this year. But the main reason for this sustained level of carnage on our roads, despite the welcome decrease in the numbers so far this year, is that 111 motorcyclists have been killed on our roads," he lamented. 

 

Data from the Island Traffic Authority show that as at December 22, some 56 private motorcar drivers have died this year compared with 45 in 2024.

 

Private motorcar drivers have accounted for 71 deaths since the start of the year compared with 63 last year.