HO CHI MINH CITY, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Between January and September, 13,242 traffic accidents occurred in Vietnam, killing 6,012 people, severely injuring 3,670 people and lightly hurting 6,649 others, the country's Traffic Police Department said Friday.

The numbers of traffic accidents, deaths and slight injuries caused by the accidents dropped, respectively, by 7.8 percent, 1.8 percent, and 19.3 percent against the same period last year. However, the number of severe injuries increased by 3.4 percent.

On average, in the first nine months of this year, Vietnam saw 48 traffic accidents each day which claimed 22 lives and injured 37 people.

Last year, 20,280 traffic accidents happened in Vietnam, claiming 8,279 lives, severely injuring 5,587 people and slightly hurting 11,453 others, said the department.