The 76 fatal accidents on Bahrain’s roads are estimated to have cost the economy around BD500,000 ($1m) in 2009, according to the country’s latest Traffic Directorate statistics.

An accident occurred every 6.7 minutes in Bahrain in 2009.

Bahrain Health Minister Dr Faisal Al Hamer said a total of 377,432 traffic violations were recorded last year, of which 8.4% were due to speeding and 4.5% from jumping red lights.

The country has also registered 149 motorbike accidents, according to gulf-daily-news.com.

The officials have predicted 73,000 road traffic fatalities this year and the figure is expected to touch 94,000 by 2020.