Men between the ages of 26 and 40 are by far the most likely to become a traffic casualty, according to statistics just released.

According to National Statistics Office figures for October to December 2022, 93 men in that age group were injured in road accidents, 24 of them grievously and another fatally.

Only 40 women between 26 and 40 suffered road injuries during the same period and only five of them were classified as having been grievously hurt.

Roughly the same proportion of male to female injuries held true in the 41-59 and 18-25 age groups, although the numbers were lower for each cohort.

In all, 241 males were injured during the last three months of 2022, five fatally, compared to 140 females, with two fatalities.

The gap was even bigger for the whole of 2021, with 253 males injured on the road and 126 females.

In the last quarter of 2022, there were 3,816 traffic accidents, up by three per cent over the same period in 2021.

A total of 84 people – 52 drivers, five passengers and 27 pedestrians, cyclists and others – were grievously injured during those three months.

The largest number of road traffic casualties, 55 per cent, involved passenger cars, followed by motorcycles at 32 per cent.

A total of 11 cyclists were involved in traffic accidents between October and December, with two suffering insignificant injuries, five slight and four grievous.

The NSO also reported that the number of road fatalities during the whole of 2022 reached 28, up by 19 when compared to the previous year.