Thursday, 19 April 2007

Death on the Road

From the BBC

Over 1.2m people are killed in road traffic accidents around the world each year, according to a report.

Figures from the World Health Organization and the World Bank suggest another 50m people may be left injured by crashes annually.

That's one person in every 5000 world wide will die in a road traffic accident between now and next April 20th.

In the UK that figure will be one in 17000. To put that an other way, five of the 90 000 people who attend the Wembley Cup Final this year won't get the chance to next year.

I just thought you might like to think about that next time you are out there on the road.

Drive safely.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am doing my "bit" for road safety.

By parking my 4x4 half on the kerb, on double yellow lines, on narrow streets and on the apex of blind bends, I am acting as a mobile "traffic calming" device.

All you need is a bus stuck behind me, and hey presto! traffic grinds to a halt.

If speed kills, stopping all traffic completely (until I have finished shopping / posting letters / dropping the kids at school) will save millions of lives.

Can I have my medal, please?

Em's way said...

Judging by the journey from hell I had on a stagecoach bus today, most of them will be victims of the same driver !!!

David said...

Sorry Andy, no medal because as soon as your car has been towed away all those drivers who were held up will now drive at twice the speed in order to make up lost time.
Nice try though.

Pizza Hut Team Member said...

Just wondering if you know...if a bus starts shaking vigorously from side to side at the front...and the driver has seems some difficulty in steering when it reaches speeds above around 35mph, but when the driver reduces speeds it goes away - is this something serious which they should have stopped for straight away?

Arriva Driver said...

Sounds like some severe tracking or wheel balancing issues.

However, I doubt it should shake violently - usually just a vibration through the steering wheel lets you know about that, so sounds like it could even be a major problem.

I would of stopped and reported it, yes.

Your driver said...

Someone pointed out to me that 119 people die in car accidents every day in the US. Every day.

David said...

It's 9 or 10 a day in the UK. 3500 a year.