More than 2,500 traffic accidents occurred in Moldova last year, an increase of 1.33% on 2016. These claimed 273 lives and injured 2,846 persons, down 12.22% and, respectively, 2.8%. More than half of the accidents occurred in Chisinau, IPN reports.

According to the police report for 2017, 863 of the 2,512 accidents were classed as serious and their number was by 1.41% higher on a year before. Rises were reported in the districts of Taraclia, Vulcanesti, Anenii Noi and Edinet.

Slightly over 74% of the accidents occurred through the drivers’ blame. The figure is similar to that of 2016. A number of 662 accidents, which resulted in 131 deaths, happened because the drivers didn’t adjust the speed to visibility and traffic conditions. As many as 346 accidents, which claimed 17 lives, were the result of non-giving of way to pedestrians. The same number of accidents, with nine deaths, occurred after the drivers didn’t give way to other vehicles.

Among other causes of accidents were jaywalking, careless changing of lanes, non-observance of distance between vehicles, imprudent driving and driving under the influence of alcohol, and speeding.

In 2017, the police recorded 32,322 offenses. More than half of these (56%) were classed as less grave, 26% as minor, 16.3% as grave, 2% as very grave, while 0.4% as exceptionally grave. The number of offenses decreased by 15.6% compared with 2016. The highest crime rates were logged in the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti and tin the districts of Criuleni, Comrat and Cahul.

Among the problems faced by the national police are the incapacity to deal with the high number of requests and events and the low capacity of the central bodies to manage the process of developing the police. The General Police Inspectorate continues to treat some processes in a fragmented way and the quality of the intra-institutional cooperation and operational activity need thus to be further consolidated and developed.