One in 10 killed in accidents with combined vehicles

Three hundred and three persons lost their lives in traffic accidents in 1997. Twenty-nine of those were killed in accidents involving combined vehicles. The number injured was 336. Although the number of traffic accidents fell, combined vehicles were involved in more accidents than the year before.

Two hundred sixty-seven combined vehicles were involved in 260 accidents on Norwegian roads last year. This is 12 more accidents than in 1996. The average for 1992-1996 shows that 31 were killed and 280 were injured in 217 accidents involving combined vehicles. The figures for 1996 showed 23 fatalities and 314 casualties.

Combined vehicles were involved in three per cent of all accidents last year. The percentage killed in combined vehicle crashes was nearly 10 per cent, while the number of injured accounted for three per cent of all persons injured in traffic accidents.

Of the 29 persons who died in combined vehicle accidents last year, 20 were motorists and four passengers in cars (83 per cent), three motorcyclists, one cyclist and one pedestrian. Of the 336 injured in combined vehicle accidents, three were very seriously injured, 28 were seriously injured, and 305 suffered minor injuries.

New Statistics

Road traffic accidents involving combined vehicles, 1997. The statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Road Traffic Accidents. For more information, contact: aud-marit.beck@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 20, or asbjorn.willy.wethal@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 15.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 34, 1998