The number of traffic accidents in the first eight months of this year fell compared with the same period last year, but fatalities rose, new figures show. According to Handicap International Belgium, 5,543 accidents were recorded from January to August of this year, compared with 6,827 in 2008. The number of people killed in traffic accidents during the same period, however, rose from 1,100 in 2008 to 1,209 this year.