The number of traffic accidents and resulting deaths and injuries dropped in the eight months ending on August 15 compared to the same period last year, the National Traffic Safety Committee reported on Wednesday. From December 16, 2014 to August 15, 2015, 14,622 traffic accidents took place across the country, killing 5,821 people and injuring 13,234 others, the committee said. As such, 728 people died per month on average in traffic accidents over the period, or over 24 people per day.

In comparison with the same period last year, the numbers of traffic accidents and resulting deaths and injuries are down by 12.49 percent, 3.98 percent and 16.04 percent, respectively.

In the period from July 16 to August 15, 654 people died and 1,591 others were wounded in 1,712 traffic accidents across the country, the committee said. As compared year on year, the number of deaths in that period dropped by 39, or 5.63 percent; and the injuries dropped by 413, or 20.61 percent; while the number of accidents dropped by 260, or 13.18 percent. On average, road accidents kill around 9,000 people in Vietnam every year – almost 25 deaths per day – and leave hundreds of thousands of others with life-time injuries, Transport Minister Dinh La Thang said at a requiem held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 10, 2014 for the dead victims. The event was organized to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Road Traffic Accidents, which falls on the third Sunday of November each year. Road accidents claim about 1.3 million lives around the world every year, and the figure is forecast to increase to 1.8-1.9 million in the future, according to the committee.

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