Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Police's (Polri's) Traffic Corps said that the number of traffic accidents during the 2024 Eid al-Fitr homecoming exodus and return flow period showed a decline of 15 percent compared to the previous year."Nationally, traffic accidents declined from 2,159 cases to 1,835 cases, or declined by 15 percent," head of Polri's Traffic Corps, Inspector General Aan Suhanan, said here on Friday.
The number of fatalities due to traffic accidents also declined three percent from 291 people to 281 people. However, the number of severely injured rose 13 percent from 281 people in 2023 to 317 people in 2024, while the number of minor injuries declined from 3,036 people to 2,424 people.
Suhanan said that the type of accidents with the highest incidence during the Eid period were head-on collisions at 433 cases, followed by rear-end collisions (379 cases).
"Rear-end meaning the vehicles did not keep the appropriate distance, or it could also be caused by drivers getting sleepy and then crashing," he explained.
Furthermore, 342 single vehicle accidents were recorded during the period. The single vehicle accidents probably occurred because the drivers were tired or fell asleep, he said.
As per the Traffic Corps' records, 73 percent of vehicles involved in traffic accidents were motorcycles, followed by buses (12 percent), goods transport vehicles (10 percent), private cars (two percent), and others (three percent).
"The highest cases were recorded in the area of East Java Regional Police, then Central Java Regional Police, Jakarta Regional Police, South Sulawesi Regional Police, and Bali Regional Police. Those were the top five," he informed.
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Considering that the majority of accidents were induced by tiredness, Suhanan appealed to drivers to ensure their health is in a good state before driving.
As per a survey conducted by the Ministry of Transportation, 193.6 million people were expected to join the homecoming exodus to celebrate Eid al-Fitr this year, which fell on April 10.