Nearly 7,200 people died from traffic accidents in the ten-month period ending on October 15, down almost 3.9 percent year on year, the National Traffic Safety Committee said on Thursday. The period, from December 16, 2014 to October 15, 2015, saw 18,437 traffic accidents take place across the country, claiming 7,185 lives and injuring 16,755 people, the committee said. This means that on average, around 718 people died per month in traffic accidents during the period, or nearly 24 people per day. In comparison with the same period last year, the numbers of traffic accidents and resulting deaths and injuries were down by 2,364 (or 11.36 percent), 290 (3.88 percent) and 3,218 (16.11 percent), respectively, the committee said. In the one-month period from September 16 to October 15, 667 people passed away and 1,826 others were wounded in 1,978 traffic accidents nationwide. Comparing that period alone year on year, the number of accidents dropped by 125, or 5.94 percent, the death count decreased by 50, or 6.97 percent, and injuries fell by 312, or 14.59 percent, the committee said. Around 9,000 people die from road accidents in Vietnam per year, or almost 25 deaths per day, Transport Minister Dinh La Thang said at a requiem held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 10, 2014 for the dead victims. In addition, hundreds of thousands of others suffer from life-time injuries caused by traffic accidents every year, the minister added. The event was organized to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which falls on the third Sunday of November each year. Worldwide, road accidents claim about 1.3 million lives every year, and the figure is forecast to soar to up to 1.9 million in the future, the committee said.

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