Traffic accidents increasingly caused the death of people aged 18 to 24 in 2006, Deputy Interior Minister Kamen Petkov said.

Petkov took part in a roundtable discussion on traffic-related problems, Darik Radio reported.

Nearly 36.8 per cent of the deaths caused by traffic accidents in 2006 involved people aged 18 to 24. The number of young people affected by traffic accidents in the period between 2000 and 2006 reached 12 779 and the number of deaths totaled 1011.

Since the beginning of the year, 37 young people died in traffic accidents.

The use of helmets could decrease by 40 per cent the death cases on the road and the use of seatbelts by 45 to 65 per cent, traffic police data showed.

The number of deaths among children under 18, in the period between 2000 and 2006 reached 431. Data showed that 8 714 children were injured.