43 Deaths per day? Oh my…

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I made a joke at facebook when I left the airport and entered the taxi. I wrote “No risk no fun... Just entered a taxi in Johannesburg :-)”. What I didn’t know was that according to The Economist last month on average 43 people were killed every day in traffic accidents… The Economist goes on and writes that according to the South Africans Medical Research Council 61% of the pedestrians and 59% of the drivers killed were over the legal alcohol limit. huh?

The article cites a report of which I thought it might be interesting to have a look at: The WHO Global Status Report on road safety. And indeed it is an interesting read and definitely a surprising rich source of sometimes surprising facts and statistics…

A few facts highlighted in the report made me think or struck me with astonishment. For instance these one:

8% countries worldwide allow more than 80km/h in cities…

And even more impressive: 37% enforce a limit that is still over 50km/h…

But what fascinated me most were the country profiles in the report. For instance: I compared the datasheet of Germany with that of the United States of America and then (because what has triggered me in the first place was the article on South African road safety) the one of South Africa. First of all: It is really surprising to see how big the difference between USA and Germany is. While in Germany (remember: We have the Autobahn with in theory no speed limit) in 2007 about 5000 people dies in traffic accidents it were 42600 in the USA! This surprised me deeply as they are quite strict in their speeding and alcohol laws. And this difference can hardly be explained by the larger population as 306m to 86m are a much lower ratio than 5000 to 43000…

By looking at the report of South Africa the picture changes dramatically. 15000 deaths in 2007 in a country with 43million people where not everyone owns a car. It is also quite different to see who it really is who dies: While in high income countries such as USA and Germany mostly the drivers die is in South Africa the pedestrian the most endangered species.