According to La Nacion and the Costa Rican Red Cross, 2011 had 19 fewer overall reports of violent deaths than 2010.

In total, 2011 had 967 records of violent deaths while 2010 had 986. December was one of the months with the highest amount of incidents, a whopping 90 (16 more than 2010, though overall the year ended with less). Two of these deaths took place on the 31st. However, between July and April 96 were killed by various causes. One of the explanations offered for this was that the National Holidays of “Semana Santa” happened during April, while July was the month when public schools had their mid-year vacation period. Both of these events meant that large numbers of people traveled to the various rural areas of the country in order to enjoy their time off, which in turn signified more cars on the roads. November was the month with the fewest deaths with only 50 reports.

Similar to previous years the major cause of death were traffic accidents (303). Of these 125 were caused by collisions, 110 were cases of pedestrians being run over and 65 were caused by vehicles flipping over. Accidents on the road were followed by fatalities caused by weapons (222), physical injuries (153) and lastly other causes (284). San Jose was the province with the highest number of casualties with a total of 298, followed by Alajuela with 164, Puntarenas with 140, and Limon with 128. Heredia had the lowest fatality count with only 70 reports. Over 84% of the victims were men. The Red Cross specified that these numbers only took into consideration victims that were deceased on site and not patients that were transferred to Hospitals or Clinics and died at a later time. The organization also stated that in total they hospitalized 2,236 people that were victims of an accident, but did not die.

Guillermo Aroyo, National Director of Rescues and Operations said the following about the events that transpired during the year: “The Red Cross managed to save the lives of over 2,200 people in delicate conditions after suffering a violent accident thanks to a rapid response time on behalf of our paramedics.” He also urged Ticos to take the necessary precautions in order to be safer during 2012l. “Hopefully these figures will become an incentive for every person and family member to meditate about their safety. Most of these incidents could have been prevented”, he concluded.

Despite the positive numbers in comparison to the previous year, 2012 has already seen its share of tragedy. Two days into the New Year there were already 16 reports of violent deaths. Once again car accidents were at the top of the list with 8 lives claimed. Aside from those, 3 were caused by attacks with weapons, 2 were suicides, 1 was due to intoxication and the remaining one is still of unknown causes.

Public officials are asking citizens to take all possible precaution to ensure their safety and the safety of their families.