Almost 400,000 vehicles by end of 2019

In the fourth quarter of 2019, the stock of licensed motor vehicles increased by 12,182 vehicles or 3.2 per cent over the same quarter in 2018.

At the end of December 2019, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 397,508. Out of this total, 77.3 per cent were passenger cars, 13.7 per cent were commercial vehicles, 7.9 per cent were motorcycles/ quadricycles and All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), while buses and minibuses amounted to less than one per cent. During the quarter under review, the stock of licensed motor vehicles increased at a net average rate of 28 vehicles per day.

Newly licensed vehicles put on the road during the period under review amounted to 6,154. The majority of the newly licensed vehicles, 4,167 or 67.7 per cent of the total, were passenger cars, followed by motorcycles with 996 or 16.2 per cent. Newly licensed ‘new’ motor vehicles amounted to 2,519 or 40.9 per cent of the total, whereas newly licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 3,635 or 59.1 per cent. An average of 67 vehicles per day were newly licensed during the quarter under review.

Vehicles under restriction During the fourth quarter of 2019, 6,941 vehicles were taken off the road due to a restriction. Out of these, 35.0 per cent were garaged, 34.2 per cent were put up for resale, while scrapped vehicles amounted to 28.8 per cent of the total. Vehicles that had their restriction ending during the quarter under review totalled 3,401. The majority were recorded as being resold (67.2 per cent) or garaged (32.1 per cent).

As at the end of December 2019, 236,892 vehicles or 59.6 per cent of the total had petrolpowered engines. Diesel-powered vehicles reached 154,459 or 38.9 per cent of the total. Electric and hybrid vehicles accounted for 1.1 per cent of the entire stock, with a total of 4,493 vehicles. When compared to the same period of 2018, increases of 147.6 per cent, 64.7 per cent and 52.4 per cent were registered in the electric, hybrid/diesel and hybrid/petrolpowered vehicles.

2018: More cars on the roads, but fewer accidents

In another press release with 2018 transport figures, the NSO said that the number of cars on the road increased by an average of 36 per day during that year.

In all, there was an average of 73 vehicles which were licensed every day during the same year, with 55.7% of them being second-hand vehicles. 60.3% of total licensed vehicles had petrol engines, the statistics show.

The number of reported traffic accidents decreased by 4.2% over 2017, with 36.5% of these accidents recorded in the Northern Harbour district.

Traffic casualties decreased by 10.6% when compared to 2017, the statistics show. Injuries sustained by 11 drivers, 4 passengers, 2 pedestrians and 1 cyclist proved fatal.

Passenger cars accounted for 77.9% of total licensed motor vehicles but motorcycles registered the largest increase at 11.1% over 2017. The number of electric powered vehicles reached 926, an increase of 139% over 2017.

Slightly more than 40% of total driving license holders were women. A total of 241,736 traffic-related contraventions were issued by the Police, Wardens and Transport Malta. Speed cameras’ contraventions totalled 56,037 or an average of 154 per day. A total of 313 vehicles were stolen, a decrease of 6.3% over 2017, the statistics show.

Public Transport commuters totalled 53,467,404, an increase of 11.3% over 2017.

The number of licensed motor vehicles per 1,000 residents went down to 781 from 782 in 2017.

The Gozo and Comino district registered the highest number of vehicles per 1,000 residents at 1,071, whereas the Northern Harbour one registered the lowest ratio with 658 vehicles per 1,000 residents.

Total distance travelled by all licensed vehicles in Malta was estimated at 3,025 million km. Passenger cars were driven the most with 2,354 million km or 77.8% of the total distance travelled

Air Transport in 2018

Passenger traffic at the Malta International Airport increased by 13.2% when compared to 2017, the NSO said. UK and Italy remained the two most popular destinations in terms of total passengers’ movement, registering increases over 2017 by 13.4% and 14.0% respectively.

Sea Transport in 2018

The stock of vessels registered under the Maltese flag decreased by 1.2% over 2017.

Cruise liners embarkations from Malta and landings in Malta decreased by 28.1% and 24.2% respectively over 2017.

Increases of 7.5% and 7.0% were registered in the number of vehicles and passengers respectively that crossed between Malta and Gozo.

Passengers carried between Valletta and Sliema totalled 978,754 (+6.8%) while those carried between Valletta and The Three Cities totalled 107,795 (+4.6%).