Almost 60 per cent of car accidents are caused by Bahraini drivers, it has emerged.

The statistic was revealed yesterday (March 8) by BDF Hospital Royal Medical Services director Major General professor Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa at the first Bahrain International Trauma Conference at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Residence and Spa, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

"We are abusing the roads, speeding with big new cars in such a small country as Bahrain," said Shaikh Khalid, who noted that 61 deaths were caused by motor vehicle accidents last year.

"Minor accidents have increased progressively to a total of 1,132 in 2014 while major accidents reached 544.

"The most common cause of deadly car accidents in 2014 was speeding, followed closely by jumping red light."

He added that an accident happened every 5.48 minutes on Bahrain's roads, with seven accident victims dying, on average, for every 100,000 people there are in Bahrain.

"Out of all car accidents, it has been found that 58.86pc of collisions are caused by Bahraini drivers, and 26.49 per cent of pedestrian victims are less than 10 years old."

Bahrain's MPs had previously claimed that most traffic accidents were caused by expatriates - one of the arguments used to defend a proposed expat driving ban that parliament unsuccessfully tried to have included in the tough new Traffic Law.

In his speech, Shaikh Khalid further revealed that 89 officers had been seriously injured since February 2011, including bomb blast victims and those with life-changing injuries, while 498 had suffered "moderate" injuries such as bone fractures and burns and 2,384 had suffered "mild" injuries.

"In this time period we have unfortunately also lost 14 special forces personnel due to severe trauma cases, including head injuries, fractures and haemorrhagic shock," said Shaikh Khalid.

"It is for cases such as these that a conference of this magnitude is especially essential, as it gives us an opportunity to share with one another our knowledge and experience to prevent such fatalities."

The two-day conference, held under the patronage of Supreme Council for Health chairman Lieutenant General Dr Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, concludes today followed by a workshop tomorrow at the same venue and a two-day International Vascular Symposium, held in association with the Saudi Society for Vascular Surgery, starting on Wednesday (March 11). - TradeArabia News Service