Middle East - Kuwait: Smart phone use a main cause of motor accidents
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jun 2016
A total of 2,437 people died in traffic accidents in the five years to April 2016, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has announced. The main cause of motor accidents was the use of smart phones and other electronic devices while driving.
In a statistical report, the MoI stated that the number of road deaths fell from 493 in 2011 and 461 in 2014 to 429 in 2015. The data also showed that the number of traffic fatalities was 454 in 2012 compared with 445 in 2013. Some 155 people died in road accidents in the first four months of this year, the Kuwait News Agency reported citing the MOI data.
With regards to the age brackets with the highest number of victims last year, the report revealed that youth aged between 21-30 years recorded the highest percentage of deaths with 119 cases out of 429; followed by 90 victims aged 31-40 years, and 73 in the 41-50 age group.
Data also showed that 80,827 accidents were registered in 2015. The cause of 95% of these accidents was lack of due attention while driving, stated the report. Surprisingly, exceeding speed limits was blamed for a small fraction of the deaths in 2015, only 0.46%.
The report added that 6.3 million traffic violations were registered in 2015, including 3.5 million involving overspeeding and 1.1 million unauthorised parking incidents.