It's Dangerous Driving-Stay Safe
Driving is one of those simple things that we take for granted, in that whatever country we live in, we drive in, even if it’s the most dangerous country in the world to get behind the wheel of a car. We compound matters when we decide to take a driving holiday, even if it means going from a safe country to one where they are all mad. We just don’t think about it.
I was looking up some statistics of road deaths per 100,000 population. These are figures from the mid 1990s, and I’m sure things have changed one way or the other, but in considering the list of worst cases, the Spanish will tell you that it is no surprise to see that Portugal was at the top of the list with 24.9 road deaths per 100,000. That still did not deter Spaniards from taking a driving holiday to Portugal. See what I mean?
Greece was second with 23.3; Venezuela was third with 22.3; The Russian Federation was tied with Venezuela, although it was ranked as fourth. Cuba was fifth with 18.3; Poland was next with also 18.3; and Mauritius was seventh with 17.8.
Colombia, in spite of its notorious reputation for drug running was number eight with 17.4, although a whole lot more people died at the hands of the cartels. Hungary was ninth with 17.0 people per 100,000, and number ten was Slovenia with 14.3. Spain, with it shameful track record in the mid 1990s didn’t make it into this list, which tells us a lot about the actual numbers of people who died on the roads of the countries on the list.
What about the list of the ten safest countries? Who gets the grand prize for keeping its citizens the safest?
You won’t get any prizes for guessing the country at the top of that list. It was Sweden, of course, the maker of the Volvo. They lost only 5.7 people out of every 100,000 to death on the road. That is remarkable considering the kinds of Winters they endure.
They were followed by The Bahamas with 6.1, and the U.K. were third with 6.2. From here it continues to get worse with Norway, 6.6, The Netherlands with 7.7, and Finland with 7.9. These are all cold countries that require driving on ice, but they don’t make the Volvo. (Yea, I own a Volvo.)
At number 7, Trinidad and Tobago came in with 10.3. They don’t have ice, except in their rum and coca colas, and if you are sipping a cool one while listening to the steel band you might become a little distracted. I’m not saying that is what people there do, but it would be good advice not to do that.
For number eight we have to go to Canada with 10.4, and then Israel with 10.6, and finally at number ten we have Australia who are actually tied with Israel.
So, where was Spain in all this? Presumably, somewhere between 10.6 and 14.3.
In 2005, it seems that the road death rate in The United States was 14.71. That was approximately 43,510 persons, but in subsequent years the picture has become more encouraging as deaths have declined down to 33,808 in 2009. That’s 11.01 per 100,000 people. Interestingly, we are seeing the same decline here in Spain that has changed from the bad ole’ days of over 6,000 to last year’s result of 1,897.
We are all holding our breath that the number will be less than that for 2010. Keeping in mind that no-one really has to die just for getting behind the wheel or on a motorbike, the death of just one person is one death too many. It means that some family, somewhere has their lives turned upside down because a member of their group didn’t come home.
Drive carefully. Preserve your life for the people who love you!
Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael
Driving is one of those simple things that we take for granted, in that whatever country we live in, we drive in, even if it’s the most dangerous country in the world to get behind the wheel of a car. We compound matters when we decide to take a driving holiday, even if it means going from a safe country to one where they are all mad. We just don’t think about it.
I was looking up some statistics of road deaths per 100,000 population. These are figures from the mid 1990s, and I’m sure things have changed one way or the other, but in considering the list of worst cases, the Spanish will tell you that it is no surprise to see that Portugal was at the top of the list with 24.9 road deaths per 100,000. That still did not deter Spaniards from taking a driving holiday to Portugal. See what I mean?
Greece was second with 23.3; Venezuela was third with 22.3; The Russian Federation was tied with Venezuela, although it was ranked as fourth. Cuba was fifth with 18.3; Poland was next with also 18.3; and Mauritius was seventh with 17.8.
Colombia, in spite of its notorious reputation for drug running was number eight with 17.4, although a whole lot more people died at the hands of the cartels. Hungary was ninth with 17.0 people per 100,000, and number ten was Slovenia with 14.3. Spain, with it shameful track record in the mid 1990s didn’t make it into this list, which tells us a lot about the actual numbers of people who died on the roads of the countries on the list.
What about the list of the ten safest countries? Who gets the grand prize for keeping its citizens the safest?
You won’t get any prizes for guessing the country at the top of that list. It was Sweden, of course, the maker of the Volvo. They lost only 5.7 people out of every 100,000 to death on the road. That is remarkable considering the kinds of Winters they endure.
They were followed by The Bahamas with 6.1, and the U.K. were third with 6.2. From here it continues to get worse with Norway, 6.6, The Netherlands with 7.7, and Finland with 7.9. These are all cold countries that require driving on ice, but they don’t make the Volvo. (Yea, I own a Volvo.)
At number 7, Trinidad and Tobago came in with 10.3. They don’t have ice, except in their rum and coca colas, and if you are sipping a cool one while listening to the steel band you might become a little distracted. I’m not saying that is what people there do, but it would be good advice not to do that.
For number eight we have to go to Canada with 10.4, and then Israel with 10.6, and finally at number ten we have Australia who are actually tied with Israel.
So, where was Spain in all this? Presumably, somewhere between 10.6 and 14.3.
In 2005, it seems that the road death rate in The United States was 14.71. That was approximately 43,510 persons, but in subsequent years the picture has become more encouraging as deaths have declined down to 33,808 in 2009. That’s 11.01 per 100,000 people. Interestingly, we are seeing the same decline here in Spain that has changed from the bad ole’ days of over 6,000 to last year’s result of 1,897.
We are all holding our breath that the number will be less than that for 2010. Keeping in mind that no-one really has to die just for getting behind the wheel or on a motorbike, the death of just one person is one death too many. It means that some family, somewhere has their lives turned upside down because a member of their group didn’t come home.
Drive carefully. Preserve your life for the people who love you!
Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael
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