Rain and Speeding Major Cause of Fatal Traffic Accidents
Seven dead in the first ten days is how September has begun and with two thirds of the month to go as traffic accidents become more violent and fatal each day.

The majority the traffic accidents occurred during rain, which when mixed with speeding, have resulted in fatalities. Four of the fatal accidents occurred at night or in the early morning hours before sunrise.

Tránsito (traffic) authorities are asking drivers to used extreme caution during the heavy rain and to reduce speed on wet roads. September and October are months with the greatest amount of rainfall and the mixture of wet roads and speeding, add in some cases, abuses of alcohol, make for a dangerous combination.

The majority of the accidents have been recorded in the Área Metropolitana (San José). However, it is the accidents in the outlying areas that have been the cause of multiple fatalities.

The latest fatal accidents were recorded this past weekend when a minibus carrying four Italian tourists and their guide slammed into a vehicle in the area of Abangares, south of Liberia. The passengers of the minibus are all taken to the Liberia hospital where they are recovering.

The two passengers in the other vehicle in the collision died on the scene, as Cruz Roja (Red Cross) workers could not do anything for Santos Lara and Hernando Loaiza. A number of paramedics and ambulances were on the scene of the accident, that closed the Inter Americana highway for hours.

In an another accident recorded yesterday, Ángel Martín Zúñiga Morera, Edier Picado Quesada and Carlos Cubillo Cubillo, lost their lives in a traffic accident near Damas, Quepos. One other person was injured in that accident.

Tránsito officials say alcohol and speeding were the cause of the accident, when the Hyundai Excel they were in left the road and hit a concrete abutment and spinning out of control, according to witnesses.

The wife of Ángel Martín, the driver of the car, said that her husband had been drinking since the morning hours and had spoken to him minutes before he got behind the wheel, she told police.

Members of the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) and the la Fuerza Pública where on the scene to provide support to the Bomberos and the Cruz Roja, who could nothing for the victims as they died on impact.

Authorities ask to use extreme caution when driving in the rain and slow down and extend your distance between the vehicle in front, as the wet pavement become slippery and easy to lose control.