chasm54

Here is an interactive guide to road traffic deaths worldwide. You can play with the data to compare individual countries.

Unsurprisingly, the developing world has the worst statistics. Equally unsurprisingly, pedestrians and those on two wheels are disproportionately vulnerable.

I was surprised by the US figures, though. After adjusting for population, three times as many people die on the roads in the US as in the UK. I know car ownership is higher, and Americans tend to drive everywhere, but I would have expected this to be offset by the fact that outside the major cities, your roads are significantly less busy than ours - there's just a lot fewer of you per square mile. But even when one adjusts for the number of cars, there are twice as many deaths per vehicle in the US. UK speed limits are higher, too. Any thoughts on why US roads are so much less safe?

Juha

I have no answers to your questions, but after a quick glance there are problems with the stats presented there. It's a huge task to define, collect and maintain statistics that would be valid for comparisons accross a select set of countries, never mind all countries. I would guess comparisons between US and UK for example are more reliable than, say, China and US. but even there you might have discrepancies in definitions.

For Finland they claim vehicle ownership of 99,4%. Dunno... if buses, bikes, mopeds, snowmobiles, reindeers etc are all counted in as vehicles, and only people within certain age bracket are included, then maybe. About 60% of all Finns have a driver's license, and one car per family is still pretty much the norm here. The ratio sounds ridiculous.

atbman

Possibly because US driving tests are less rigorous than places like UK and Germany? I saw a tv program approx. a year ago about a UK citizen taking the Florida test. It took place on what was a glorified car park with some road markings and traffic signs. He'd not had any lessons, passed the multiple choice theory exam without having seen one before and passed the driving part of the test. Unfortunately, he didn't realise that he had to treat the area as tho' it was a road and drove directly across it to pick up his licence and immediately had his pass rescinded.

He didn't have to demonstrate his ability to drive in traffic which seems to me to be utterly barking. This might indicate why Florida has one of the worst state road traffic death and injury rates in the US. The descriptions I've read about some other states' test seem to indicate that, as long as you can walk, talk, hear thunder and see lightning, you're fit to drive.

I suspect that the German test is more demanding than ours - does anyone here know if this is the case?

mconlonx

We drive on the wrong side of the road...

ursle

Actually, in the US everyone rides counter clock wise , always, so every turn is a left turn against traffic, yer right...

genec

Don't know about Germany, but I do know Chinese folks that got licenses in California so they could practice here before heading back to a much more difficult test in China. "Much easier in California..."

B. Carfree

And after motorists pass our so-called driving test, they proceed to drive with their tiny brains in the ether at a greater rate than in other countries. I'm surprised Genec didn't already bring this up since he often brings up his fear of being plowed under by a cell-phone zombie, a fear most of us share, I suppose. https://www.sfgate.com/nation/article...pe-4356669.php

zeppinger

"World governments declared 2011-20 a decade of action for road safety and the WHO has been urging countries to tighten legislation on speed, drink-driving, use of helmets, seatbelts and child restraints."

Do they mean for cyclists or drivers? I would be really excited to see campaigns for helmet use for drivers....

mconlonx

Usually, it means those riding scooters and motorcycles...

atbman

Could it be that, given your God (and Constitution)-given right/propensity to indulge in shooting people, and given that most people are right-handed, it reduces drivers' ability to shoot/stab others because they'd have to do it either with the wrong hand or to shoot/stab across their own bodies. This would have been especially effective regarding the days of horse-riders and swords.

I find this hypothesis pleasingly logical.

CB HI

USA has speed limits up to 85 mph. And even the tandem tractor trailers have higher limits than UK large trucks.

dynodonn 

Unlike in the US, in a number of European countries there is a strict liability law in place , with the liability of a collision defaulting to the larger, heavier vehicle, unless in can be proven otherwise. There is also a " stricter careless driving" law in a number of countries as well, where a simple fender bender can end up costing the motorist plenty, especially when good driver rates hover around the 2000 dollar a year level in countries like Germany.

It's no wonder why distracted driving is less of a problem in some European countries than in the US, European motorists are being held more accountable for their driving actions.

sudo bike

While I totally support holding drivers to a higher standard (the driving tests are a joke in most places here), I think we need to be careful using money as leverage to that end without providing alternate transport, otherwise it can get terribly regressive terribly quickly. The thing is, European nations can be a lot more hands-on because often the transit is good enough that you don't really need a car all that much to get by. The same can't be said for many US cities.

So, totally agree we need to crack down... but we need to give people an alternate practical choice if we do. Otherwise you just have the rich paying for their bad driving while the poor just lose job mobility, which doesn't benefit anyone.

mconlonx

Real easy solution: progressive fines. I think they do that in Finland, maybe some other countries as well.

degnaw

I'm not surprised. My driver's test (in Ohio) consisted of a short maneuverability course, where we were pretty much taught to memorize the 3 steering wheel movements involved, and a 5-minute drive through a quiet residential area where I demonstrated I could stop for stop signs and use turn signals.

I-Like-To-Bike

Did you complain about this when you took the test? Or were you very happy to get your license and quickly left the testing facility with a big smile?

mconlonx

That would have been me. I hear other countries have tiered licensing -- in the motorcycle realm, you need to get a license for a small-displacement bike, have it for some length of time, and then apply for the next level/displacement of motorcycle. Someone not from the USA feel free to chime in here...

I took Driver's Ed a few years back with my learning disabled son. I actually liked what I heard from this particular course, this particular teacher. He was not a bike rider, but stressed both in class in on the road that you need to look out for bikes, that they are considered vehicles, and should be accorded respect and treated like any other vehicle.

degnaw

^This. As one of the 95% of Americans who considers themselves a better-than-average driver, it's obviously everyone else that needs extra testing.

dynodonn 

As long as driver's licenses are easy to get/hard to lose, there is cheaper fuel, lower insurance rates, giving the personal auto more priority in infrastructure/urban design decisions..... alternate transportation will always take a back seat in the US. The US economy is greatly hinged on the use of the personal auto, a classic example would be in trying to remove a dozen or so motor vehicle parking spots in a business district in order to make room for alternate transportation.

chasm54

That's interesting. Here in the UK the driving test has become more severe since I took it more than thirty years ago, but even then it involved demonstrating some knowledge of the highway code (minimum stopping distances at thirty and sixty mph was among the questions I was asked, iirc) as well as about a half-hour drive in traffic with the examiner in the passenger seat, ensuring that one was in full control of the car, used the mirrors properly, reacted appropriately to other road users, could safely execute an emergency stop, reverse into an opening, etc etc. Certainly not possible to pass it without a number of hours of practice, and some instruction, in real-world conditions. Plus if you pass the test in a car with an automatic gearbox you can't legally drive with a manual shift.

I had no idea the US tests were so rudimentary.

dynodonn 

Interesting note, but here in the States that clause is basically a moot point since the automatic transmission is generally a top seller in many US cities. After spending nearly hour in a stop and go freeway traffic jam in Los Angeles, my love affair with having a manual transmission car was severely put to the test.

mr_pedro

In response to the OPs question about the difference in mortality numbers: The numbers are not comparable, it is not enough to adjust for population size as you are ignoring how many miles people are driving. So in this case the US number is much higher than the UK because on average people in the US drive many more miles than in the UK. I wouldn't be surprised to see higher mortality figures in the US than in the UK but I think the numbers are much closer together than what we see in that comparison.

Spld cyclist

Recently I read that "rural highways" were among the most dangerous places to drive in the US. This means higher-speed roads in rural areas with one lane in each direction, narrow lanes, negligible shoulders, limited site distances, sometimes in poor condition, little lighting, etc. I'm not talking about limited-access interstate highways with two or more wide lanes in each direction, good shoulders, etc., which are very safe in comparison. We have a huge number of these unsafe rural highways in the US.

I also totally agree with the comments above about the deplorable state of licensing in the US and the poor enforcement of driving laws

chasm54

Perhaps. However, they do provide an analysis adjusted for car ownership as well as population, amd there are twice as many fatalities per vehicle in the States as in the UK. As for how many miles people drive, I don't know the US figures. Last I looked, the average annual mileage for UK drivers was around 12000.

Edit. i have looked up the US data, and average mileage is about 13500. Not a huge difference.

mconlonx

This is most of my riding and half my commute...