[DeTomaso] NPC: Traffic fatalities in Sweden 2009

[Larry - Ohio Time Corp]

Mike,

They say that most fatal accidents are on two lane roads (head on collisions
or driving off the road). The east has a much greater expanse of divided
highways then out west.

I take great offence at this statement.

<< southern states, where poverty and ignorance are far more prevelant>>

Please Mike, do not call Ohio a southern state!

Larry (Daa) - Cleveland



-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
Behalf Of MikeLDrew at aol.com
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 2:05 PM
To: Thomas.Tornblom at hax.se; detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] NPC: Traffic fatalities in Sweden 2009


In a message dated 1/4/10 10 05 51, Thomas.Tornblom at hax.se writes:


> Sweden had the lowest number of traffic fatalities since they began
> tracking it in the 1930:s. A total of 355 deaths out of a population of
> about 9.2 mil.
> 

That's an amazing statistic--although perhaps a bit misleading.

Rather than tracking fatalities vs. population, it would be more accurate 
to track fatalities vs. miles driven.   The USA is huge, and is also a very 
mobility-driven society.   As a broad, general guess, I'd say that the 
typical American driver travels much, much further in a given year than his 
European counterpart.   This is due to a number of unrelated
factors--Europe's 
smaller geographic separation, more effective mass-transit systems, much
higher 
cost of fuel, and a lingering 'village' culture that causes people to shop, 
dine etc. close to home.

We have none of that here.   We chose to live a long way from where we 
work, quite often.   We're unable or unwilling to use mass transit to get
back 
and forth.   And our cheap gas lets us do things that would be unheard of 
anywhere in Europe--like driving 50 miles each way to go to a favorite 
restaurant.   So the average American's exposure to the threat is probably
far 
greater than his European counterparts, and it's only natural for the
statistics 
to be a bit higher as a result.

Having said that, I'm positive that once the statistics were revised, the 
European results would still be far, far better than ours, by orders of 
magnitude.   For we are still plagued with a culture that is very soft on
driving 
while drunk.   There isn't nearly enough safety ingrained into our culture 
so seat belts use is far from universal (although it's improved 
substantially from years past), and our driver training is abysmal, so there
are an 
awful lot of poor drivers out there who don't even realize they're poor
drivers. 
  Vehicle maintenance standards are generally poor to nonexistant, so there 
are some real deathtrap cars rattling around on our roads (despite the 
appearance of some of my Sciroccos, mechanically they're all tip-top!).
And 
finally, in some areas we have a substantial immigrant population, people
who 
were not necessarily raised in an automotive culture, and thus are still 
quite new to the whole concept--or who resolutely refuse to learn and adapt
to 
it, and drive their cars the same way they used to ride their bicycles 
through the streets of Beijing or Hanoi or Mumbai or wherever.

All of these things combine to result in a death rate that is astronomical.

Using the Swedish population model, their death rate is 3.85 per 100,000 
people.   Meanwhile, the best rate in the USA (2006 statistics) was 6.8 per 
100,000 in Washington DC (a tiny area, with an effective mass transit 
network), going all the way up to 33.3 per 100,000 in Mississippi.

It's interesting to look at a map of the US that shows death rates vs. 
population by state.

http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?ind=118&cat=2

Note that in the more cosmopolitan, densely populated east coast region the 
rates are the lowest.   That can be attributed to the high number of people 
living in urban areas (many New Yorkers don't even own a car), the relative 
close proximity of everything, effective mass transit, and a generally more 
educated populace.   Meanwhile, the death rate is the highest in the 
southern states, where poverty and ignorance are far more prevelant.
There's 
also a high incidence in the remote states in the north, where people are
often 
VERY removed from civilization and thus have to drive great distances on a 
routine basis, often facing severe weather challenges.

It would be interesting to chart the death rate versus a number of 
different factors, i.e. average income, average education, average mileage
driven, 
average age, and compare the differences.

As bad as things are in the USA, it's nothing compared to China.   
According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, 680
people die 
and 45,000 are injured every day in motor vehicle accidents there.   For 
comparison, in the United States where there are more than 600 cars for
every 
thousand Americans (versus 7 or 8 out of every 1,000 in China), daily deaths

are around 115. 

Mike
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