Road accidents kill 1,000

BANDUNG: Road accidents in West Java killed 1,032 people in the first half of the year, police said yesterday.

West Java's police spokesman, Lt. Col. Istanto, said Tuesday there were 1,352 accidents in the province over this period.

Over the same period 989 people were seriously injured in road accidents, while 1,106 suffered minor injuries.

He said the number of accidents was well down last year's huge 6,394 accidents. Despite this only 855 people died in crashes in last year's first six months, while 836 were seriously hurt and 825 slightly injured.

"Poor traffic discipline is one of the reasons for the increasing death toll," Istanto was quoted by Antara as saying. He said traffic violations preceded most fatal accidents.

Speaking about crime in general Istanto said police solved 4,138 of the 8,342 crimes reported between January and June this year. The figure for the same period last year was 4,052 of 8,003 cases. (amd)