A new OECD report confirms that US road safety is an abject failure.
Americans are far more likely to die in a crash than those living in other rich countries. US per capita crash death rates are at least 3x higher than Ireland, Norway, UK, Germany, or Japan.
https://www.itf-oecd.org/road-safety-annual-report-2024
Americans are far more likely to die in a crash than those living in other rich countries. US per capita crash death rates are at least 3x higher than Ireland, Norway, UK, Germany, or Japan.
https://www.itf-oecd.org/road-safety-annual-report-2024
Comments
A lot of driving in the UK is urban or suburban and doesn't exceed 30mph.
Fine, here you go. The US is still terrible.
Key reasons:
🔹 Fast urban roads
🔹 Erratic enforcement
🔹 Huge cars
🔹 Poor pedestrian/cycling infrastructure
Went to a live music bar in central DC and the “drive safely” shout at the end of the night was a shock.
I don't drink at all, but I think drunk people probably lack the presence-of-mind to decide to pay for a taxi and leave their car where they *might* get a fine, if that could save one life. Being able to walk changes that calculation
This is extremely misleading without also considering the accident pairing (large vs large, large vs small or small vs small)
Not to disparage the statistic, but Imho it comes with an important caveat.
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/driver-death-rates-by-make-and-model
You want more words?
OK, driver training, poor road design and maintenance, lax traffic enforcement.
It's fairly simple and direct to have safe and efficient personal transportation, we just don't care.
How many QoL metrics is this true for our idiocracy?
For a similar reason, Massachusetts has the lowest roadway fatality rate in the US.