Muscat – Road accidents in Oman fell 17% in 2025 despite continued rise in the number of vehicles on the country’s roads, while speed remained the leading cause of crashes, according to National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) data.

A total of 1,545 road accidents were recorded in the sultanate during the year, equivalent to an average of about four a day. The rate dropped to 8.3 accidents for every 10,000 vehicles from 10.6 in 2024.

The decrease came as the registered vehicle fleet increased 5.6% to 1.851mn from 1.753mn a year earlier. The number of driving licences rose 5.4% to 528,000.

Oman had 45,700km of paved roads at the end of 2025, with single carriageways accounting for 91%.

Speed was identified as the reason for 43.6% of road accidents, making it by far the biggest cause. Improper driving action or handling accounted for 27.6%, negligence for 13% and other causes for 15.7%.

Collisions between vehicles were the most common type of road accident, accounting for 43% of the total. Pedestrian accidents represented 21%, rollovers 20% and collisions with fixed objects 16%.

One-third of all accidents occurred in Muscat and Dhofar. Muscat accounted for 17.5% of accidents nationwide and Dhofar 15.3%, followed by Dakhliyah and South Batinah at 14.8% each.

Road crashes resulted in 2,192 casualties in 2025, down 13% from the previous year. These included 595 fatalities and 1,597 injuries.

Dakhliyah recorded the highest number of deaths at 99, followed by Dhofar with 90, Muscat with 89, North Batinah with 72 and South Batinah with 64.

Al Wusta, however, had the highest casualty rate relative to population, at 20.6 per 10,000 people, compared to the national rate of 4.1.