MONTEVIDEO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Uruguay registered 434 traffic fatalities in 2024, a 2.8 percent increase compared to 2023, the National Road Safety Unit said Thursday.

In its annual report, the agency said traffic accidents also increased, by 4.9 percent year over year, totaling 21,597 and leaving 3,840 people seriously injured.

In presenting the report, Marcelo Metediera, president of the National Road Safety Unit, said there was no "magic solution" for reducing road accidents but "a set of policies can be implemented that must be implemented."

"Today we see a lack of use of (reflective) vests, a lot of cellphone use while driving, and license plates that are bent or erased, and that has to do with a lack of oversight," he said.

According to the National Road Safety Unit, the majority of traffic deaths last year involved men (8 out of 10), the predominant age range was 20 to 24 years old, and the vehicles most commonly involved in accidents were motorcycles, accounting for 49 percent of all crashes. ■