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Over 17,000 people killed in traffic accidents in Russia in 2012

The figure is somewhat bigger than in previous years
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, October 16 (Itar-Tass) —— More than 17,000 people were killed in traffic accidents in Russia in 2012. The figure is somewhat bigger than in previous years. The overall number of road accidents also exceeds that in previous years, deputy chief of Russia's traffic police Vladimir Kuzin told Itar-Tass.

"In the eight months of 2012, a total of 129,121 major traffic accidents were registered. A total of 17,058 people were killed in these accidents, and some 16,000 people were injured," he said, adding that the number of minor accidents hurting no one was by far bigger.

According to Kuzin, the number of major accidents registered in 2012 went up by 4.9 percent as compared with the same period last year. The number of the killed was up by 2.3 percent, and the number of those injured - up by six percent.

About a third of such accidents, Kuzin said, occurred because drivers ignored unfavorable weather conditions. Other causes include such violations of traffic rules as ignoring speed limitations, non observance of distance, etc.