Statistics For Other Countries

Algeria

Rather than acknowledge the magnitude of the trauma, Algeria’s leaders prefer to stress their ability to end the violence. In 2003, according to an unofficial interior ministry report, terrorism-linked clashes killed fewer than 1,500, including some 450 armed Islamists – less than the annual average of 4,000 road accident fatalities and not comparable with the Black decade, when up to 200,000 people were killed.
[Source: ‘Algeria: a state of depression, March 2004; Le Monde Diplomatique

Bahrain

A total of 137,096 traffic accidents were recorded in Bahrain between 2002 and last year, statistics issued by the General Directorate of Traffic revealed yesterday…
The statistics show that 228 people were killed and 9,805 seriously injured during the period…
About 7.4 percent of accidents were reported between 4 pm and 5 pm and 36pc between 4 pm and 10 pm.
Sixty-three pc of the injury accidents occurred on roads with a speed limit of within 50 kmph, 13.7pc accidents happened at traffic signals, and 6.4pc at roundabouts.
According to the statistics, speeding caused 5.2pc of injury accidents. At the same time, 4pc were due to careless pedestrians, 4.6pc driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and 4.6pc due to jumping red lights. The rest occurred due to other traffic violations…
Of all drivers at fault in injury accidents, 42pc were 20 to 29 years old, and 28pc had under one year of driving experience…
The full article from the Gulf Daily News. March 17, 2005.

DSA Comments: We cannot be sure precisely what “between 2002 and last year” means. Technically speaking, only 2003 is genuinely between 2002 and the last year, but we must presume that is not what is intended.
We would be grateful if anyone could confirm the exact period being referred to.
Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc.

China

Officially, the Chinese government says 300 people die daily in vehicle crashes on the country’s roads and byways. But the World Health Organization says that the actual number is 680 traffic deaths a day. That compares with about 115 per day in the United States, where there are about eight times as many vehicles as in China, according to figures from the Chinese government and R.L. Polk & Co.
[Source: Washington Post, December 5, 2004 — “Safety Isn’t Optional”]

Road accidents kill over 18,500 children under 14 years old in China annually. Statistics show that in 2003, approximately 300 people, on average. They were killed in car accidents each day in China. [Source: Xinhuanet (China View) March 31, 2004]

Also, see Hong Kong below.

Eire / Southern Ireland

Provisional Fatal Collision Statistics — 2003

Finland

Youngest drivers cause one-fifth of fatal accidents in Finland
According to a preliminary report by the Finnish Motor Insurers’ Centre, the number of young-driver fatalities was 49 of the 261 fatal accidents recorded in Finland in 2005…

Faroe Islands (mean figures for the years 1993-2002)
Note: This statistic was located & posted here in response to a specific question from one of our viewers.

Road traffic accidents with personal injury
in the number

50 per 1000 capita 1.1

Source: www.hagstova.fo/hagtol/Keyfigures/keyfigures.htm

Guyana

By visiting the Land Of Six Peoples website and doing a site search for “road safety,” much can be learned about driving in Guyana and about crash statistics there.

Hong Kong

The Road Safety Council Annual Report, 2001, has a statistics section

Also, see China above.

India

“…In India, it’s the roads themselves that are the country’s murderers: 164 people die on them each day, and a quarter of the world’s bus crashes occur here…” (i.e., 60,000 road deaths per year)
[Source: “Holy cow, it’s danger all the way” — UK Sunday Times; March 14, 2004.]

Japan

White Paper on Traffic Safety in Japan, 2004 — abridged, English language version

White Paper on Traffic Safety in Japan, 2003 — abridged, English language version

Kuwait

With about one million vehicles on its roads, Kuwait has reported an 18.1 percent rise in the number of deaths from traffic accidents.
Interior Ministry assistant Undersecretary Major-General Thabet Al Muhanna said 372 people died in 2003, 57 more than in 2002, due to 45,400 traffic accidents.
In addition, 405 people were seriously injured, and 927 others received light wounds.
Kuwait has a population of some 2.5 million people, 900,000 indigenous citizens, and the rest foreign workers and their families.
The full article, from Trade Arabia, March 17, 2004.

Oman

A total of 10,197 road accidents occurred in the Sultanate in 2003, causing the death of 578 persons and injuring 6,735, according to the statistics issued by the Royal Oman Police.
[Source: an article titled ‘Let’s end miseries caused by road accidents: HM,’ Times of Oman, April 7, 2004.]

South Korea

According to the Korea Insurance Development Institute on Sunday, out of 725,796 car accidents on which insurance claims were made during the 2003 fiscal year — from April 1, 2003, until March 31, 2004 — 24,036 accidents (3.3 percent) resulted from drunk driving…
The percentage of accidents involving severe offenses such as hit and runs and driving without a license was highest in North Gyeongsang province, at 21.1 percent, followed by Jeju and Gangwon provinces, with 20.9 and 20.2 percent, respectively.
Full story (December 26, 2004) from Chosun

United Arab Emirates

In 2003, there were 7,397 serious traffic accidents in the UAE, 873 deaths & over 10,000 injuries. Regarding the number of vehicles on the road, UAE has six times more deaths from road traffic accidents per year than the USA & Europe.
[Source: Press release dated September 14, 2004, from Alba Diagnostics, Ltd., re brake fluid failure.]