Road traffic accidents during the first month of the New Year landed a total of 115 victims in the hospital’s Emergency Department for treatment in January.
Statistics released by the Bermuda Hospitals Board for January 2018, show seven victims involved in serious road traffic accidents were admitted to the Acute Care Wing, two were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.
Of all the accidents resulting in injuries during the first month of the year, two road traffic accident victims were 18 years of age or younger.
One victim was discharged to an overseas medical facility, following a serious road traffic accident in January.
The sobering facts continue to be borne out on Bermuda’s roads, where 75 percent of all road traffic accidents involve alcohol and/or drugs.
Fifteen lives were lost as a result of road traffic fatalities in 2017. Over the past decade, that number goes up to 118.
For every single road traffic fatality recorded, there’s nearly 200 injuries caused by road traffic accidents.
Bermuda’s young Black males have a 60 percent higher chance of dying on our roads than all other males, who collectively are seven times more likely to die in a road crash than females.
Riders who are 16 years of age are also more at risk than others to be involved in an accident – 21 to 25 year old motorists run the highest risk of becoming a road traffic fatality statistic.
And in terms of economics, when it comes down to the medical costs incurred, it’s costing this country millions; not to mention the loss of lives, which is priceless.
