And we thought we had a road death problem.

scojones

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/?jp=CWSNKFOJEYQL wrote:

At least 351 people were killed in road accidents and 3,970 injured over a five-day New Year period in Thailand.

Many accidents were caused by drunken motorcycle riders, officials said

More than 3,500 road accidents occurred between December 28 and January 1, as Thais travelled from cities to beaches and mountains in large numbers, said Anucha Mokkawej, chief of the Interior Ministry’s Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Centre.

Most holidaymakers will be returning to work tomorrow morning, but the centre will be keep count of accidents until the end of the day.

About 47% of accidents were due to drink-driving and 25 per cent were attributed to fast driving. Motorcycles were involved in 88 percent of vehicles that had accidents.

During last year’s holiday period, 347 were killed over the first five days.

Christ!

zuutroy

If you look at the stats Ireland is one of the better countries in the EU in terms of road deaths per million kms and per head of population. Strange how much of a big deal is made in Ireland compared with elsewhere.

scojones

zuutroy wrote:

If you look at the stats Ireland is one of the better countries in the EU in terms of road deaths per million kms and per head of population. Strange how much of a big deal is made in Ireland compared with elsewhere.

I guess because the majority of the deaths are within a particular age group: Young males, and elderly people who never had to do a test to get their license.

zuutroy

sjones wrote:

I guess because the majority of the deaths are within a particular age group: Young males, and elderly people who never had to do a test to get their license.

Thats another thing...they go on about 50% of deaths being those under 30. But surely close to 50% of journeys are undertaken by those under 30 just from looking around you on the roads?

scojones

zuutroy wrote:

Thats another thing...they go on about 50% of deaths being those under 30. But surely close to 50% of journeys are undertaken by those under 30 just from looking around you on the roads?

I wouldn't really agree with you there, but I would love to see the stats for this to see how many 21 year olds are on our roads. I imagine there are more 30 - 40 year olds on our roads than any other age bracket, but that's just a guestimate.

ArphaRima

I keep reiterating this point ad nauseum. Ireland does not have a road death problem. We have amongst the best safety records in the world.
Each month where I live I probably see 4-5 people dead or dying on the road, and daily I see an accident.
The problem is it would be political suicide for somebody to say; our roads are safe enough. If one person dies, then they arent safe enough people would cry. Well good luck I say.

how many 21 year olds are on our roads. I imagine there are more 30 - 40 year olds on our roads than any other age bracket, but that's just a guestimate

Well I also would assume there would be more drivers between 30-40 years old than just 21 year olds. I'd imagine it would be at least 11 times more.

zuutroy

fluffer wrote:

Each month where I live I probably see 4-5 people dead or dying on the road, and daily I see an accident.

Yeah a friend of mine lives where you are and he's told me some stories...He barely had the guts to buy a moped, and I think has had a few crashes already!

seamus

zuutroy wrote:

If you look at the stats Ireland is one of the better countries in the EU in terms of road deaths per million kms and per head of population. Strange how much of a big deal is made in Ireland compared with elsewhere.

Mainly because they're largely preventable. Now, I'd be the first to say that there's a lot of media hysteria about road accidents in this country, but the past couple of years have shown us that even a tiny change in the enforcement of traffic laws can make huge differences in the number of deaths on the road. Coupled with the massive increase in cars on our roads, our safety record looks even better. But if random breath testing can cause deaths to drop 30%, then I don't see why enforcement of other laws (not necessarily speeding - this isn't an issue) couldn't give us a 50% drop. People will always die on the roads, this is a given. There's no reason why any more than say, 150 should die in any one year.

User45701

there 3 day is 1/2 ouyr average yearly or is it...

wait do we have an average of 1 or two deaths a day on the road?

Sully

sjones wrote:

Christ!

And how many of those people were Irish eh?

seamus

User45701 wrote:

there 3 day is 1/2 ouyr average yearly or is it...

wait do we have an average of 1 or two deaths a day on the road?

It's just over one death per day.

Taking the population of Thailand into account, 351 deaths over five days is equivalent to 4-5 deaths per day here over the same five days. We only had 3 in total (I think).

mikemac

Just a few quick stats.

Ireland has on average 9 road deaths per 100,000 annually
This is about mid-table in the EU.

The best country's are have a record of 6 deaths per 100,000 anually.
I know the UK has this and two or three others although I can't rememeber these countries.

So if we get to 6 deaths per 100,000 which is probably the best we will ever manage, that's about 240-260 road deaths per year.

Picked up all these facts from the radio last night.

jimmycrackcorm

Strangely no-one points out in the media hype about road deaths how the number of fatalities hasn't risen in proportion to the rise in the number of extra vehicles each year.

We could reduce fatalities for example by kicking out all East Europeans .

scojones

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

We could reduce fatalities for example by kicking out all East Europeans .

Nah they're grand, just take the women and elderly off the roads and there'd be no need for us to over take. If everyone drove on there'd be no problem.

Sleepy

or by simply building first world roads...

Hobbes

Trying to say we are somehow better by comparing yourself to the worst is not the best way to go about it.

madhitchhiker

Hobbes wrote:

Trying to say we are somehow better by comparing yourself to the worst is not the best way to go about it.

aha?..so how to go about it then? 'm listening.;)

mike65

We go about it like the Swedes (boring I know!) by working to achive the lowest rate possible cos every stat is a life.

Mike.

Victor

Ireland is mid-range in the EU, however, figures in the rest of the EU have been falling sharply.

Males 17-24 over over-represented in fatalities (compared to the general population) by a factor of 3. The other over-represented group is males over 65.

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

Strangely no-one points out in the media hype about road deaths how the number of fatalities hasn't risen in proportion to the rise in the number of extra vehicles each year.

Change "vehicles" to "guns" and read the following sentence.

"The number of guns on the street has gone up, so the number of gun deaths is OK."

Rb

sjones wrote:

Christ!

That is insane, very sad also.

Thrill

sjones wrote:

Christ!

It's like the population of an Irish village.

Check out this India traffic cam footage. We think we're bad..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD98oengrHA

MrJoeSoap

I was about 20 yards away from being brown bread in Phuket this summer, some nutty Western bloke driving a massive Ford F350 whilst off his face, mounted a 2ft kerb and smashed into a huge telegraph pole in front of an open-fronted restaurant. How nobody died I will never know, the truck was wrapped around the pole.

Catari Jaguar

One of first things my bro told us about Thailand (he's been there since March) is that the roads are mad with little or no rules, drink driving, unlicenced mopeds, driving on wrong side, no traffic lights...

He was hit by a scooter n broke his ankle actually...

MrJoeSoap

Lil Kitten wrote:

the roads are mad with little or no rules

Check

Lil Kitten wrote:

drink driving

Check

Lil Kitten wrote:

unlicenced mopeds

Check

Lil Kitten wrote:

driving on wrong side

Check

Lil Kitten wrote:

no traffic lights...

There are a few in some cities.

You forgot to mention some of the most insane tuk-tuk drivers who will gladly race for an extra 20 cent or so! I had never used a moped in my life before Thailand, I rented one for three days with no deposit or no proof of ID for a grand total of... €7. When I got on the thing it had 7 miles on the clock, brand spanking new!

scojones

MrJoeSoap wrote:

I was about 20 yards away from being brown bread in Phuket this summer, some nutty Western bloke driving a massive Ford F350 whilst off his face, mounted a 2ft kerb and smashed into a huge telegraph pole in front of an open-fronted restaurant. How nobody died I will never know, the truck was wrapped around the pole.

Mental! Did you take pics?

Hobbes

madhitchhiker wrote:

aha?..so how to go about it then? 'm listening.;)

You generally compare yourself to the best and aspire to the be the same or better.

Victor

Victor wrote:

Ireland is mid-range in the EU, however, figures in the rest of the EU have been falling sharply.

Males 17-24 over over-represented in fatalities (compared to the general population) by a factor of 3. The other over-represented group is males over 65.
Change "vehicles" to "guns" and read the following sentence.

"The number of guns on the street has gone up, so the number of gun deaths is OK."

I'm not too sure what you are tying to say here. Guns arn't something that are needed day to day by the population..

Sadly as long as there are cars on the road there will be deaths its an unavoidable fact.
However the road death trend is downwards when we take into account the increased number of cars on the road, the larger population and overall more kilometers travelled. The more cars on the road the more likely there is one of them will be involved in a fatal accident.

Deaths on the road peaked in 1978 when 628 people lost their lives on the roads. Bear in mind there were many times fewer the amount of cars on the road in 1978.

Sources

edit: I'm in no way saying that we shouldn't try decrease it any further.

Victor

ronoc wrote:

I'm not too sure what you are tying to say here. Guns arn't something that are needed day to day by the population..

Cars aren't an absolute need either. My point is the increase in the number of cars is being used to convince people that accidents are "OK". This compares other societies that, say, uses public transport or cycling/walking more but has fewer road deaths, but more deaths per vehicle. Again, other societies chose to remove non-essential journeys.

Sadly as long as there are cars on the road there will be deaths its an unavoidable fact.

So, how many airline or railway passengers have died in accidents in Ireland in the last 20 years? None.*

*There have been deaths in general and military aviation and non-accident deaths (level crossings, suicides and death by mis-adventure) on railways.

Victor

Victor wrote:

Cars aren't an absolute need either. My point is the increase in the number of cars is being used to convince people that accidents are "OK". This compares other societies that, say, uses public transport or cycling/walking more but has fewer road deaths, but more deaths per vehicle. Again, other societies chose to remove non-essential journeys.

It doesn't convice them they are ok. It illustrates that as more cars and people are put on roads accidents are more likely to happen.

We, as a society, for better or worse deem this an acceptable price for the benifits and conviences of road transportation. As long as we continue to do this, road deaths will continue.

Victor wrote:

So, how many airline or railway passengers have died in accidents in Ireland in the last 20 years? None.*

*There have been deaths in general and military aviation and non-accident deaths (level crossings, suicides and death by mis-adventure) on railways.

Until trains and planes become the primary modes of travel around this country this is meaningless. I notice you chose not to include buses there..

Owen

The TukTuk drivers are mental. We had a guy in Bangkok on the Koh Sahn Road who would wheely for an extra Euro, 5 Irish lads in the back, 3 wheels, and metal scraping off the ground, with no means of steering as the front wheel was in the air. Great fun.

Road deaths aren't just bad in Ireland, apparently, 80 died in the month of December in Poland, or so herself tells me anyway.

Victor

ronoc wrote:

I notice you chose not to include buses there..

I didn't chose, it didn't cross my mind. Buses are safer than cars, but not as safe as trains.

Black Swan

Come visit LA when it's foggy. The land of the 50 car pile-ups! Reminds me of "The Matrix: Reloaded" film and the freeway chase scenes.