Road crashes dropped by a third last month compared with the same period the previous year — despite four fatal accidents.

There were 101 collisions last month compared with 155 in December 2013, according to Bermuda Police Service statistics released yesterday.

One of last month’s crashes resulted in an arrest for impaired driving compared with seven arrests during the same month the previous year.

For the whole of last year, there were 54 arrests for impaired driving related to collisions, down from 77 in 2013.

There were 1,405 road collisions in 2014 — down 20 per cent from 1,776 the previous year. In 2012 there were 1,837.

The number of people injured in crashes also dropped — from 957 in 2013 to 839 last year. But there were only 819 injuries in 2012.

Despite the higher number of accidents in December 2013 compared with last month, there were no road deaths. However, 68 people were hurt in December 2013 compared with 60 last month.

Three people needed to be treated in the intensive-care unit for serious injuries last month compared with five in December 2013.

Nine people were also seriously injured last month compared with 11 for the same period the previous year, with 44 slight injuries — a drop from 52 in December 2013.

Twenty-four people needed treatment in the ICU during all of 2013 but that total fell to just 16 last year.

The main cause of collisions last month and in December 2013 was inattention — but the number of accidents almost halved, from 50 to 26.

Bad surfaces, such as wet roads, caused seven accidents last month compared with 11 in December 2013.

Crashes caused by entering a main road carelessly fell by more than half — from 14 in December 2013 to six last month.

Following another vehicle too closely increased to ten accidents last month from nine in the same period of 2013, while overtaking improperly also increased — from five to nine collisions.

Reversing carelessly also saw an increase to seven accidents last month from five in December 2013.

Eighty-seven private cars were in collisions last month — 51.5 per cent of the vehicles involved in crashes.

Thirty-nine motorcycles or scooters were in smashes — 23.1 per cent of the vehicles involved.

Just four taxis were in collisions last month, as were four public-service vehicles, 16 trucks and two pedal cycles. But two-wheelers were involved in the most single-vehicle collisions last month — 14 motorcycles or scooters compared with 12 cars.

More men were in collisions last month than women — 98 compared with 73. Three of the women were tourists. No male tourists were involved last month. In total last year, 1,491 men were in accidents compared with 965 women. Seventy-six female tourists were in accidents last year, as were 78 male tourists.

Most people involved in collisions last month, 48 (28.1 per cent), were between the ages of 51 and 65, followed by 34 (19.9 per cent) being aged 21 to 30.

Just 19 (11.1 per cent) were aged 16 to 20, and 14 (8.2 per cent) were 66 or older, with 30 (17.5 per cent) aged 31 to 40. Two were 15 or younger, with 24 between age 41 and 50.

No animals were in collisions last month, although 11 were throughout the year as a whole. Thirty-one children were in crashes last year — down from 42 in 2013 — with two last month. Pedestrians were involved in 46 accidents last year — up from 34 in 2013 — with four last month.