How we work
Methodology
The rules we hold the data to
- Accidents are not fatalities
- Accidents, fatal accidents, fatalities, injuries and casualties are distinct measures. They are never summed, substituted or compared as if interchangeable.
- Definitions are kept
- Every indicator keeps the publisher's wording and definition. When a definition changes, the series is marked with a break rather than silently joined.
- Annual and partial-year data stay separate
- A half-year is stored and labelled as such, never shown as a full year, and compared only with the same half-year of another year.
- Police districts are not administrative districts
- Reporting geographies are typed and never joined by name. No official boundaries exist for the seven police districts, so no map colours them.
- Missing stays missing
- Missing, suppressed and not-applicable values stay that way. They are never replaced with zero, interpolated or dropped silently.
Definitions, as published
Scroll horizontally to read definitions and source references.
| Indicator | Unit | Definition | Stated in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accident rate per 1,000 registered motor vehicles | accidents per 1,000 registered motor vehicles | Road traffic accidents per 1,000 registered motor vehicles, as published (historical series Table 4). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Accident rate per 100,000 population | accidents per 100,000 population | Road traffic accidents per 100,000 mid-year population, as published (historical series Table 4). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Casualties | persons | Any person killed or injured in a road accident is referred to as a casualty. | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Accidents causing casualties | accidents | Accidents in which at least one person was killed or injured: fatal, serious injury and slight injury accidents together (published as 'Casualty accidents' / 'Number of accidents causing casualties'). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Casualty rate per 1,000 registered motor vehicles | casualties per 1,000 registered motor vehicles | Casualties per 1,000 registered motor vehicles, as published (historical series Table 4). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Casualty rate per 100,000 population | casualties per 100,000 population | Casualties per 100,000 mid-year population, as published (historical series Table 4). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Drivers involved in accidents causing casualties | persons | Drivers involved in casualty accidents, excluding drivers involved in hit-and-run cases (digest table footnote). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Fatalities | persons | Any person killed during an accident, or within 30 days as a result of an accident, is referred to as a fatality (7 days before 2002). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Fatality index | fatalities per 100 casualties | Fatality index is the number of fatalities per 100 casualties (table footnote). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Fatality rate per 1,000 registered motor vehicles | fatalities per 1,000 registered motor vehicles | Fatalities per 1,000 registered motor vehicles, as published (historical series Table 4). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Fatality rate per 100,000 population | fatalities per 100,000 population | Fatalities per 100,000 mid-year population, as published (historical series Table 4). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Population (mid-year) | persons | Island of Mauritius mid-year population, the denominator of the rates per 100,000 population (digest Table 13). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Motor vehicles registered (mid-year) | vehicles | Motor vehicles registered at mid-year, the denominator of the rates per 1,000 registered motor vehicles (digest Table 13). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Motor vehicles involved in road accidents | vehicles | Motor vehicles involved in road traffic accidents ('of which motor vehicles', historical series Table 3). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Motor vehicles involved in accidents causing casualties | vehicles | Motor vehicles (all vehicles except pedal cycles) involved in accidents causing casualties ('Total motor vehicles' in release Table 2.3, 'Motor vehicles involved in casualty accidents' in Table 2.1). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Riders involved in accidents causing casualties | persons | Riders of auto/motor cycles involved in casualty accidents, excluding riders involved in hit-and-run cases (digest table footnote). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Length of roads | km | Length of roads as at end of year, total and by class (historical series Table 1). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Road traffic accidents | accidents | A road traffic accident is an accident between two or more vehicles, a vehicle and a cyclist, a vehicle and a pedestrian, a vehicle and a fixed object such as a bridge, building, tree, post, etc, or a single vehicle that overturned on or near a public road. Data refer to all road accidents reported to police stations and to insurance companies; accidents involving bicycles only or a bicycle and a pedestrian are excluded. Severity: fatal (death within 30 days, 7 days before 2002), serious injury, slight injury, non injury. | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Road traffic contraventions | contraventions | Offences established in connection with road traffic, Republic of Mauritius (Statistics Mauritius, Crime, Justice and Security statistics). From 2024 the data include contraventions established under fixed penalty notices. | Mauritius OpenData portal metadata files for the road traffic contraventions datasets; Statistics Mauritius CJS Table A1.3 |
| Seriously injured casualties | persons | As from January 2013: an injury for which a person is admitted to hospital as an in-patient for more than 24 hours. Prior to January 2013: detained in hospital as an in-patient, or fractures, concussions, internal injuries, severe cuts and lacerations, crushings and severe general shock requiring medical treatment. | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Slightly injured casualties | persons | As from January 2013: an injury for which a person has received medical care but has not been admitted to hospital for more than 24 hours. Prior to January 2013: an injury of minor character such as a sprain, bruise and cut not judged to be severe. | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Vehicles involved in road accidents | vehicles | All vehicles involved in road traffic accidents (historical series Table 3). | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Vehicles involved in accidents causing casualties | vehicles | Vehicles involved in accidents causing casualties, by type of vehicle. Only three main vehicles are considered in accidents involving more than three vehicles (release Table 2.3 footnote). Categories differ from the registered-vehicle types. | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
| Vehicles registered | vehicles | Vehicles registered at the National Land Transport Authority as at end of year, excluding pedal cycles and including Government vehicles; classification per section 4 of the Road Traffic Act 1962 as amended by Act No. 27 of 2012. 'Car' includes taxi cars, published as 'of which taxi car'. | Statistics Mauritius, Road Transport and Road Traffic Accident Statistics: Explanations sheet of the historical series (16 Sep 2026) and the digests' Concepts and Definitions |
Definition changes and series breaks
Charts that cross these dates mark them. A year-on-year change across a definition change attached to a series is not computed.
definition changeFrom 2002
Fatal accident and fatality: death within 30 days of the accident. Before 2002 the limit was 7 days.
Applies to: Fatalities, Fatality index, Fatality rate per 1,000 registered motor vehicles, Fatality rate per 100,000 population. Stated in: Statistics Mauritius, historical series Explanations sheet; digest Concepts and Definitions.
definition changeFrom 2013
Serious injury redefined from January 2013: admitted to hospital as an in-patient for more than 24 hours. Before: detained as an in-patient, or fractures, concussions, internal injuries, severe cuts and lacerations, crushings, severe general shock requiring medical treatment.
Applies to: Seriously injured casualties. Stated in: Statistics Mauritius, historical series Explanations sheet; digest Concepts and Definitions.
definition changeFrom 2013
Slight injury redefined from January 2013: medical care without admission to hospital for more than 24 hours. Before: an injury of minor character such as a sprain, bruise and cut not judged to be severe.
Applies to: Slightly injured casualties. Stated in: Statistics Mauritius, historical series Explanations sheet; digest Concepts and Definitions.
definition changeFrom 2013
Double cab pickup is a separate vehicle category from 2013 (Road Traffic Act as amended by Act No. 27 of 2012); before 2013 it was counted within dual purpose vehicles.
Applies to: Vehicles registered. Stated in: Statistics Mauritius, historical series Table 2 footnote; portal metadata for vehicles registered.
definition changeFrom 2024
From 2024 the road traffic contraventions include contraventions established under fixed penalty notices; totals are not comparable with earlier years unless that category is excluded.
Applies to: Road traffic contraventions. Stated in: Statistics Mauritius, Crime, Justice and Security ESI 2024 Table A1.3 note.
Known gaps and discrepancies
Where two official publications disagree, we record the difference instead of choosing a side silently; where a table leaves a cell blank, the value stays missing.
coverageFrom 2002
Fatal accidents (severity breakdown): a fatal accident is one with a death within 30 days of the accident from 2002; before 2002 the limit was 7 days. The total number of accidents is unaffected.
Applies to: Road traffic accidents. Stated in: Statistics Mauritius, historical series Explanations sheet; digest Concepts and Definitions.
coverageFrom 2004
As from August 2004 most non-injury road traffic accidents are reported only to insurance companies, not to the police; no breakdown of non-injury accidents by age group or sex exists.
Applies to: Accident rate per 1,000 registered motor vehicles, Accident rate per 100,000 population, Road traffic accidents. Stated in: Mauritius OpenData portal metadata, 'Number of drivers and riders involved in accident'.
discrepancyFrom 2012 to 2012
D1: fatal accidents 2012 are 144 in the historical series (2026) but 114 in the 2017 and 2018-19 digests and in the portal copy.
Applies to: Road traffic accidents. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D1.
coverageFrom 2013 to 2018
D10: the portal copies of the circumstance tables leave cells blank where the source prints '-' (nil) and lack six district rows for 2016 and one for 2017; blanks are stored as not available, and the 2016-2017 district rows come from the 2017 and 2018-19 digests.
Applies to: Casualties, Accidents causing casualties, Road traffic accidents. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D10.
discrepancyFrom 2013 to 2013
D7: the portal copy's vehicle types for 2013 sum to 443455, 40 below the historical-series total of 443495.
Applies to: Vehicles registered. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D7.
coverageFrom 2014
The historical-series workbook stores fractional accident rates through 2013 and whole-number rates from 2014. Published rounding limits comparisons; MorisLens retains the published values and does not recompute this rate from the mixed-scope population series.
Applies to: Accident rate per 100,000 population. Stated in: HS_RT_RTA _Yr25 _160926.xls, T4-Rates, accident rate per 100000 population row.
coverageFrom 2018 to 2018
D9: the 2018 casualty accidents by weather and severity are printed as fractional numbers (e.g. 455.84) in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 digests; a count is never rounded, so those cells are stored as not available.
Applies to: Road traffic accidents. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D9.
discrepancyFrom 2019 to 2022
D12: the published fatality index does not reproduce from the published counts for 2019 (4.1 vs 144/3559 = 4.05) and 2022 (4 vs 108/3252 = 3.32).
Applies to: Fatality index. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D12.
coverageFrom 2019 to 2019
The series ends in 2019 (decision E11). From 2020 the digests print the Republic's population under the island's label: the 2020 and 2021 values (1265740 and 1266060) match the Republic male-plus-female totals of the official population file, and the 2023 and 2024 values (1248317 and 1245449) equal the Republic totals of the demography historical series. The 2022 value (1262249) is not reconciled; the same digest's Table 33 prints 1251135, the Republic total. MorisLens does not serve these years as the island's population.
Applies to: Population (mid-year). Stated in: Digest_Transport_Yr22-24_251125.xls, Tables 13 and 33; OpenData mid-year-population-by-sex-for-republic-of-mauritius.csv, 2020-2021; HS_Demography_Rep_of_Mtius_Yr24_091225.xls, Table 1; docs/reviews/verification20260921.md.
revisionFrom 2019 to 2019
D5: serious and slight injury accidents 2019 were revised in the historical series to 498 and 2111 (491 and 2118 in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 digests and the portal copy).
Applies to: Road traffic accidents. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D5.
discrepancyFrom 2020 to 2020
D13: for 2020 the historical series Table 3 prints 2802 casualty accidents, which is that year's casualties figure; its own fatal, serious and slight accident rows sum to 2086. Digest 2022-2024 Table 13 and digest 2020-2021 Table 14 print 2086 casualty accidents and 2802 casualties, and the 2020 police-district rows also add up to 2086. MorisLens serves 2086 from digest 2022-2024 Table 13 (decision E11).
Applies to: Accidents causing casualties. Stated in: HS_RT_RTA _Yr25 _160926.xls, T3 rows 7-10; Digest_Transport_Yr22-24_251125.xls, Table 13; Digest_Transport_Yr20-21_230823.xls, Table 14; docs/decisions.md E11.
discrepancyFrom 2020 to 2020
D8: main roads 2020 are 1145 km in the portal copy and 1140 km in the historical series.
Applies to: Length of roads. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D8.
discrepancyFrom 2020 to 2022
D14: in the historical series Table 3, the vehicle-type rows sum to 3024, 3765 and 4611 in 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively, against printed totals of 3578, 3020 and 3250. Digest 2022-2024 Table 26 prints different 2022 values (private car 1404; motor/auto cycle 1162). MorisLens serves the historical series' published values (decision E11). These years must not be interpreted as a verified partition or an unexplained peak.
Applies to: Vehicles involved in accidents causing casualties. Stated in: HS_RT_RTA _Yr25 _160926.xls, T3 rows 14-24; Digest_Transport_Yr22-24_251125.xls, Table 26; docs/reviews/verification20260921.md.
discrepancyFrom 2022 to 2022
D15: 2022 casualties are 3252 in the historical series and the January-June 2026 release (534 seriously and 2610 slightly injured), but 3262 in the Year 2024 and Year 2025 releases, digest 2022-24 Tables 30 and 31 and the portal copy (546 and 2608). The injuries by class of road user are served from Table 31, so they add up to 546 and 2608, not to the served totals.
Applies to: Casualties, Seriously injured casualties, Slightly injured casualties. Stated in: HS_RT_RTA _Yr25 _160926.xls, T3 rows 25-29; RT_RTA_Jan-Jun26_280826.xls, Tab 2.2; RT_RTA_Yr24_270325.xlsx and RT_RTA_Yr25_270326.xlsx, Table 2.2; Digest_Transport_Yr22-24_251125.xls, Tables 30-31.
coverageFrom 2022 to 2024
Road-user class requires context: Digest 2022-2024 Table 30 prints driver casualties of 1048, 942 and 585, and passenger casualties of 631, 631 and 866. The served 2022 driver value is 1053 from another publication. The reason for the pattern is not established; do not interpret it as a confirmed behavioural change. Published observations are retained.
Applies to: Casualties. Stated in: Digest_Transport_Yr22-24_251125.xls, Table 30; docs/reviews/verification20260921.md.
discrepancyFrom 2022 to 2022
D2: road traffic accidents 2022 are 35513 in the historical series and digest 2022-24 Table 18, but 35509 in digest Table 12, the Year 2024 and Year 2025 releases and the portal copy. For accidents causing casualties, the served historical-series total is 2279, while the 2022-2024 digest Table 13 and the weather-by-severity rows give 2275. These publications are not a single reconciled partition.
Applies to: Accidents causing casualties, Road traffic accidents. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D2.
discrepancyFrom 2022 to 2024
D16: in digest 2022-24, fatalities by class of road user differ between Table 31, which gives the island figures, and the Total row of Table 36, by police district: 2022 passengers 22 and 23, riders 44 and 43; 2024 drivers 20 and 19, riders 57 and 58 (2023 agrees). The police-district figures do not add up to the island's for those classes.
Applies to: Fatalities. Stated in: Digest_Transport_Yr22-24_251125.xls, Table 31 and Table 36 row 14.
discrepancyFrom 2022 to 2022
D4: serious and slight injury accidents 2022 are 400 and 1780 in digest 2022-24 Table 18 and in the historical series, but 440 and 1736 in the digest's Tables 20, 21, 22 and 24.
Applies to: Road traffic accidents. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D4; HS_RT_RTA _Yr25 _160926.xls, T3 rows 9-10.
discrepancyFrom 2023 to 2023
D3: fatal accidents 2023 are 150 in digest 2022-24 Table 18 but 130 in its Table 20, in the historical series and in the Year 2024 release.
Applies to: Road traffic accidents. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D3.
revisionFrom 2024 to 2025
D11: the January-June releases print two totals for the previous year's January-June casualties. Table 2.1 repeats the figure first published (2025: 1,397; 2024: 1,488); Table 2.4 of the same release gives the revised figure, which its road-user rows add up to and the Year release confirms (2025: 1,610; 2024: 1,535). MorisLens serves Table 2.4's figure.
Applies to: Casualties. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D11; docs/decisions.md E9.
discrepancyFrom 2024 to 2025
January-June 2024 and 2025: the split by injury is the first-published one, repeated unchanged in the next January-June release (2025: 63 killed, 221 seriously and 1,113 slightly injured, adding up to 1,397; 2024: 69, 252 and 1,167, adding up to 1,488), while the revised totals are 1,610 and 1,535 (D11). The revised split is not published, so the overview does not compare these series with those half-years.
Applies to: Seriously injured casualties, Slightly injured casualties. Stated in: RT_RTA_Jan-Jun26_280826.xls and RT_RTA_Jan-Jun25_290825.xls, Table 2.1; docs/decisions.md E9.
discrepancyFrom 2024 to 2024
D6: vehicles registered 2024 by type differ between the portal copy (car 327989, dual purpose 49652, double cab pickup 12216) and the historical series (335398, 47620, 14248); the totals agree (710605).
Applies to: Vehicles registered. Stated in: docs/audits/2026-09-road-safety-sources.md D6.
revisionFrom 2024 to 2025
D17: taxi cars registered at the end of 2024 and 2025 were revised to 6966 and 6523 in the January-June 2026 release (Table 1.2, marked revised), as the historical series prints; the Year 2024 and Year 2025 releases printed 7409 and 7927.
Applies to: Vehicles registered. Stated in: RT_RTA_Jan-Jun26_280826.xls, Table 1.2; HS_RT_RTA _Yr25 _160926.xls, T2; RT_RTA_Yr24_270325.xlsx and RT_RTA_Yr25_270326.xlsx, Table 1.2.
What we do not show, and why
- No map coloured by police district and no locality search: no official boundary file exists for the seven police districts.
- No accident locations or pins: no official coordinates of accidents are published. The accident-prone stretches are designated road sections, not accident counts.
- No forecasts, risk scores or estimates: the site shows published figures and the calculations it states.
- No downloads of the datasets: the original files are linked on the Sources page.