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Yellow_Fly_Red
05-21-2002, 01:30 AM
http://www.straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,1870,120063,00.html

Asians among the most reckless drivers
BANGKOK - Asians are among the most reckless drivers in the world, with the region accounting for nearly half of the total number of road deaths every year.


This car wreck in Ayuthaya province, Thailand, is a grim reminder of the high price that Asians are paying for their recklessness on the roads. -- AP
From Bombay to Jakarta, traffic safety is ignored.

Small children are loaded precariously on motorcycles along with live chickens and vegetables.

Roads are dangerously shoddy.

Passengers dangle from packed buses which belch choking black smoke; other riders crowd into open trucks which serve as buses in rural or slum areas.

Vehicle numbers have skyrocketed in Asia since the 1980s as part of the dramatic rise in living standards and economic growth.

But transportation experts note that driving skills and law enforcement lag far behind.

Of the nearly 900,000 people killed in road accidents worldwide in 1999, 44 per cent were in Asia and less than 14 per cent in industrialised countries, according to research firm Global Road Safety Partnership.

Human factors are mostly to blame, he said, citing careless driving and a lack of protective gear such as seat belts.

China has the world's highest overall road-accident rate, despite a relatively low ratio of motor vehicles, according to the World Bank.

About 83,500 people were killed in more than 400,000 accidents in 1999, a 7-per-cent increase in deaths and a 19-per-cent increase in accidents over 1998.

Other countries suffering high fatalities include India, where the Asian Development Bank says 80,000 people died in car wrecks in 1999 even though the country has only 10 million cars for its one billion people.--AP



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Dangerous road habits


In Thailand during holidays, millions travel to their native towns or villages to celebrate and many get drunk.

In China, Beijing drivers weave across lanes, overtake on the inside and drive fender to fender at high speeds. On rural roads, cyclists turn without looking, sometimes into the path of cars.

In India, wearing seat belts was not compulsory in New Delhi until March. Now drivers of run-down taxies throw fake belts over their shoulders to fool police. Adding to the chaos are 35 million motorcycles and carts pulled by animals.

In Vietnam, fatalities hit their highest last year - largely due to a rise in the number of vehicles, mostly motorcycles.

Ben
05-21-2002, 01:48 AM
Thats insane!!!!!!!!:eek:

sexualbanana
05-21-2002, 01:17 PM
don't forget that that area amounts for a large chunk of the world's population, and a lot of those countries are either relatively too poor to make proper roads, or they are simply so packed together (in terms of population density) that statisically, they should have a large amount of accidents.

GTS Jeff
05-21-2002, 02:14 PM
I think I'm a Bad Asian Driver....:cool:

rage2
05-21-2002, 03:00 PM
I'm a good driver, at least I like to think I am.

Yellow_Fly_Red
05-21-2002, 05:32 PM
I would NEVER own a nice car if I lived in ASIA, even if I could afford one. It would be way too stressful. I think I would need a vehicle like a HUMMER or a TANK...
:D

Ben
05-21-2002, 05:40 PM
Originally posted by rage2
I'm a good driver, at least I like to think I am.

Put in one vote from Benny.

GT Chick
05-21-2002, 06:12 PM
i'm not a bad driver, i've only gotten into one accident so far :confused: