Nine pedestrians killed in October

Thirty-eight pedestrians have lost their lives so far this year in Norway. Nine were killed in October. Over half of the accidents happened during the day.

Five of the nine pedestrians killed in October were between 79 and 87 years of age, while four were from 17 to 45. Thirteen more pedestrians have lost their lives in the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period last year. The average for this group of road users in 1993-1997 is 31 fatalities.

In addition to the significant increase in pedestrian fatalities so far this year, the number of motorcyclists and cyclists killed has increased by nine and 11 respectively compared with the first 10 months of 1997. Small or no changes were noted for other road-user groups during this period, compared with 1997.

29 fatalities in October
Altogether 29 persons lost their lives in road traffic accidents in October, compared with 38 last year. The average for this month in 1993-1997 was 26 killed. In addition to the nine pedestrians killed last month, the other October fatalities included nine motorists, seven passengers, two motorcyclists and two moped drivers.

Altogether 1,028 persons were injured in October. The initial overview for October last year showed 993 injured. Preliminary figures for 1998 show a total of 9,873 injured, while the casualty figure for January-October last year was 9,579.

New Statistics
Road traffic accidents involving personal injury, October 1998. The statistics are published monthly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and annually in Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Road Traffic Accidents. For more information contact: Aud-Marit.Beck@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 20, or Asbjørn.Willy.Wethal@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 15.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 48, 1998