Improving road safety statistics are being noted in Morocco. During the October 10 - February 2011 period, the number of road accidents dropped 11.37% compared with the previous year. In all there were 24,829 reported traffic accidents, of which 6,735 occurred in rural areas, and 18,094 in urban areas. The data comes from Morocco's national traffic accident prevention commission, which said that there were 1,187 fatal accidents on the country's roads in this period, a drop of 8.53%. Of these, 809 took place in rural areas and 378 in urban environments, falls of 11% and 6.2% respectively, in comparison with figures from the previous year. The number of fatalities dropped to 1,374, a fall of 10.78%, while the number of serious injuries fell 6.47% to 4,189. Accidents taking place in rural areas resulted in three times as many deaths and serious injuries than those in cities however. Safety campaigners claim that the positive trends with regard to accidents have benefited from tougher enforcement, as well as a series of road safety measures being implemented in Morocco.
