02/10/2004 00:00
TW
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by Staff Reporter
THE number of people killed on Balearic roads in the first nine months of the year was 11 percent higher than the same period last year, according to the traffic department.

The report also indicates that the number of road deaths in September was 16, four times the number in September 2003.
September had the second highest death toll, after January, when 17 people died in traffic accidents.
The traffic authorities said that 99 people lost their lives in traffic accidents in the first nine months of the year, and 65 were injured. Last year, the death toll up to September was 89.

Thirty-one of the fatal accidents were caused by distraction of the driver or falling asleep at the wheel, 28 by speeding and 11 by drugs. Other main causes of accidents are failure to obey traffic signals and overtaking.

Thirty-nine of the victims were under the age of 30 and 75 percent of them were men.
Cars more than ten years old were involved in more than half the accidents.