Yerevan/Mediamax/. As of 8 August 2011, 1208 traffic accidents were registered in the republic, head of the Traffic Control Service Department of the Armenian Traffic Police, Norik Sargsian, said today.

Addressing a press conference today, Norik Sargsian said that the number of traffic accidents exceeds last year’s index of the same period by 166, Mediamax reports.

He informed that this year 156 people died as a result of traffic accidents and 1794 received body injuries. According to Norik Sargsian, the number of casualties grew by 8 people as compared to the same period last year. The number of people who received body injuries grew by 388 against last year’s same period.

“The situation is in fact stable since the growth of traffic accidents is connected with the introduction of Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance system. The drivers used to agree with one another and did not appeal to the Traffic Police after receiving light body injuries, that’s why such cases have not been registered. Today, all traffic accidents are being registered by Traffic Police officers,” Norik Sargsian said.

He also mentioned that the number of traffic accidents is also connected with the number of vehicles, as twice as more cars have been imported to the country this year (15 428) as compared to 2010.