Traffic deaths exceed 5,000 in 1st half

During the first half of this year, the death toll from traffic accidents, which include accidents by train, exceeded 5,000. In particular, the number of people killed in car accidents reached 4,976, showing an increase of 17.7% from the same period of a year ago.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation reported Aug. 1 that a total of 5,173 people were killed in 136,148 accidents involving a car, train or ship during the first six months of this year.

It represented a 6.6% increase from the 127,660 accidents during the same period last year. The death toll showed an increase of 14.9% from the first half last year, when a total of 4,504 people were killed in traffic accidents.

It is noteworthy that the number of traffic accidents increased 6.8% to 135,481, while train accidents and ship accidents decreased 15.5% and 15.8% respectively.