The following report coutesy of todays D. Tel. (full copyright and other rights acknowledged).
"Traffic is No 1 global killer
Traffic kills four times as many people as wars and far more commit suicide than are murdered, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.
The United Nations agency said injuries killed more than five million people in 2000, one tenth of global deaths. Nearly 90 per cent of injury-related deaths took place in poorer countries.
Road deaths, totalling 1.26 million, claimed the highest number of victims, followed by suicide at 815,000 and "inter-personal violence" at 520,000.
Wars and conflict ranked sixth, between poisoning and falls, with 310,000 deaths."
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It was the Potter's Bar rail accident anniversary I think on Friday, and you had total media coverage on remembering 10 or so people killed a year ago.
Now without trying to be disrespectful to those of family or friends, it annoys me that 10 people have died on trains in a year and you get most people on TV condemming the 'shabolic' state of our railways, but no mention of the 10 or so people killed every day on the roads, hmm...
Unless my maths fails me, Britain was roughly responsible for 0.27% of all road deaths. Rather low in its self really...
Kev
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But witout traffic most of the World's population would be dead because it would not be able to earn any money or distribute any food. Stats like that totally ignore the necessity for traffic.
HJ
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Maybe I'm a bit thick but the headline doesn't make much sense. I presume it refers only to deaths FROM INJURIES. In which case it's a bit rich claiming that "Traffic is the No 1 Global killer" without saying "from injuries". Anyway, statistics can prove anything - you only have to break down the "injuries" into small enough categories (number of deaths in the home from sticking i)a knitting needle, ii)a screwdriver, iii)your finger in an electrical socket)while leaving one in a broader category (traffic) and you could no doubt prove anything is the "number 1 killer".
Not wanting to belittle the tragedy of road deaths but I find it difficult to reconcile with the fact that I read recently that many million people had been killed in Zaire in inter- tribal violence over the last couple of years. Also considering that China has over a quarter of the world's pop, Africa & South America another good proportion, yet have a very low "car" population in relation then where are all these deaths taking place? (And please don't answer France, Spain and Greece!)
Maybe I'm talking rubbish but please explain gently!!!
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I quite agree, PhilW - stats mean what the person quoting them wants them to mean (cf. Tweedledee and Tweedledum).
Disease is a far greater killer (120 million cases of malaria alone a year, of whom 1 million die just in Africa), and that's not even thinking about malnutrition. The war figures are, naturally, only 'official' ones, so the millions of casualties in Zaire and the Congo don't seem to feature. Come to think of it, how did the Telegraph arrive at the figure, anyway? I think we should be told.
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Sorry, I mean the WHO. But I bet the Telegraph hasn't checked it.
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And Zaire is the Congo! Edit button, please...
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Hey come on, The highest road death toll in europe is France - evry cloud etc.............
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Per head of pop it must be Greece(or maybe Spain, or Yugoslavia as was, or Portugal, or Turkey)
Mind you, as someone once nearly said "God created the beautiful country of France, and then put the French in it to even things up"
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Was it not Jean Paul Sartre who said that "Hell is other people." Mind you he was French ...
(This is not meant to be serious as I do like the French.)
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When I drove the Xsara in France, I thought the standard of driving was very good on Bastille weekend in 2001.
Paris was, well, Paris, La Peripherique was like the M25 on drugs, but their equivalent of the M1 was well behaved and quick.
Just don't flash to let someone out, they will shoot back and quiver while you pass.
Alternatively, he could be in awe of a right hand drive Citroen.
Ben
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Yup, flashing head lights in France means "I am coming thro get in my way at your peril"
In awe of a r/h drive citroen C5? nah......r/h drive DS maybe. Even action directe (the Jackal's employers) could not stop them.
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The real problem in the world is TOO MANY PEOPLE. Already. Now.
And it is getting worse.
There is going to be a very sticky sorting out, fortunately after my time, if nothing is done and I can't see it is going to be.
So don't ask me to spend my declining years worrying about probably fictitious global warming.
Toad has come out for the spring. Vmax + anno domini = 220!
Enjoy.
Tomo.
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China is huge and rapidly 'developing' with the recent economic liberalisation. If ecologists think its bad now, lord help us once the Chinese become 2 car nuclear families. Not that they don't have as much right as us to do so of course.
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Simple manipulation of statistics by those against cars.
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In the past week, we've had 50 die when a bus drove into a dam; 13 dead as two minibusses head-on'd; another 13 when a minibus 'went airborne' at a t-junction ...
Yep, the joys of local traffic deaths - 10 000 a year, and unless (a) 10 die; or (b) the dead are famous, nothing even makes the news ...
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How does a bus 'drive into a dam'??
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God, I wish I was joking ... but I'm not.
The driver, who was among the dead, had apparently taken a wrong turn and plunged down a steep dirt road into the dam.
For the tragic story, read here.
www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_i...0
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Yes but in that part of the world, how many get killed by
industrial accidents, natural disasters, and crime related incidents each year?
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Yes but in that part of the world, how many get killed by industrial accidents, natural disasters, and crime related incidents each year?
Quite a lot, but no more as a %age than most nations.
There were figures in the press the past few days that the two biggest causes of death here are traffic accidents and HIV-AIDS.
Having seen how reckless people are [yes, in that way as well] it doesn't surprise me.
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Per head I think Portugal comes in very near the top but anyone who thinks european driving habbits are bad should drive through france and spain for a couple of months and then come back home to Blighty.
We are the worst drivers in europe bar none. We have no respect for other road users, no awareness, silly police that pull you for minor speeding on empty motorways and still we think everyone else drives like idiots.
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I'm a litle confused. Is this suggesting the average global citizen is more likely to be killed from an RTA than cancer, cardiovascular disease or malaria?? (25,000 deaths/day) Old age?
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