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The UK has amongst the safest roads in the world, however you choose to measure it. There is always room for improvement, but to suggest the UK has a poor driv

The UK has amongst the safest roads in the world, however you choose to measure it. There is always room for improvement, but to suggest the UK has a poor driving safety culture is demonstrably false. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...

Beldin 5y ago
The number of deaths is indeed low. How's the number of traffic-related injuries?
brabel 5y ago
It's true the UK has "safer" streets than other countries, but that doesn't mean it's great. 2.9 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year... That means that if everyone lived in a medium sized town of 100,000 people, each town would have nearly 3 of its inhabitants killed on the roads per year. Over a period of , say, 10 years, you 're fairly likely to know or be related to one of them. It's still pretty terrible, even if other places on this planet have even much worse.
dazc 5y ago
You are correct although this is more a case of other countries being worse rather than us being particularly well-behaved.
nmstoker 5y ago
I think it varies by area. In suburban parts of West London I can guarantee on any day I walk along roads near my house that I will observe unsafe driving - it usually doesn't result in an accident but it's a numbers game and eventually will cause damage that's fully avoidable. What I find especially odd recently are the cases of people being reckless with their own cars suffering as a result - I get that whilst driving a company vehicle, certain types of people will turn a blind eye with it, but the number of cases of people scraping their own car's bumpers as they fly over speed bumps is definitely on the rise. I'm not suggesting they willfully set out to scrape them, but it's obvious to a bystander this will happen given the way they drive and don't break in time. It's as if they haven't the forethought to connect their behaviour and the outcome.
ed_balls 5y ago
It's really hard to compare these. Netherlands has 4.7 per 1 billion vehicle-km, UK 3.9. I'd guess this is because population density (more crossings) and a way more cyclist in Netherlands. Cycling is safer in Netherlands than in UK. (I have cycled quite a bit in both places)
eptcyka 5y ago
Oh, it's safe, but what's the point of using a car if you'll reach your destination slower than if you were to use public transportation? I'm not arguing that it's too safe, but I'm arguing that it's as safe coincidentally, and the driving culture still has lots of room for improvement.

Beldin 5y ago

The number of deaths is indeed low. How's the number of traffic-related injuries?

brabel 5y ago

It's true the UK has "safer" streets than other countries, but that doesn't mean it's great. 2.9 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year... That means that if everyone lived in a medium sized town of 100,000 people, each town would have nearly 3 of its inhabitants killed on the roads per year. Over a period of , say, 10 years, you 're fairly likely to know or be related to one of them. It's still pretty terrible, even if other places on this planet have even much worse.

dazc 5y ago

You are correct although this is more a case of other countries being worse rather than us being particularly well-behaved.

nmstoker 5y ago

I think it varies by area. In suburban parts of West London I can guarantee on any day I walk along roads near my house that I will observe unsafe driving - it usually doesn't result in an accident but it's a numbers game and eventually will cause damage that's fully avoidable. What I find especially odd recently are the cases of people being reckless with their own cars suffering as a result - I get that whilst driving a company vehicle, certain types of people will turn a blind eye with it, but the number of cases of people scraping their own car's bumpers as they fly over speed bumps is definitely on the rise. I'm not suggesting they willfully set out to scrape them, but it's obvious to a bystander this will happen given the way they drive and don't break in time. It's as if they haven't the forethought to connect their behaviour and the outcome.

ed_balls 5y ago

It's really hard to compare these. Netherlands has 4.7 per 1 billion vehicle-km, UK 3.9. I'd guess this is because population density (more crossings) and a way more cyclist in Netherlands. Cycling is safer in Netherlands than in UK. (I have cycled quite a bit in both places)

eptcyka 5y ago

Oh, it's safe, but what's the point of using a car if you'll reach your destination slower than if you were to use public transportation? I'm not arguing that it's too safe, but I'm arguing that it's as safe coincidentally, and the driving culture still has lots of room for improvement.