“Taiwan, with 2,718 traffic deaths and 152,080 traffic injuries in 2003, still has a lot of room for improvement in promoting road safety. The figures equate to one out of every 150 people being either killed or injured in a traffic accident last year.”
Say the population of Taiwan is 22 million so that means 0.12% traffic deaths and 0.69% traffic injuries
“Australia - The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s Annual Road Fatalities Report for 1997 lists 1,768 fatalities in motor vehicle accidents while their Hospitalizations Report records 21,531 serious injuries that required hospitalization.”
Say the population of Australia is 19.4 million so that means 0.091% traffic deaths and 0.11% traffic injuries
So it would appear that if you have an accident in Taiwan the odds for surviving are higher, eventhough the the odds of getting into an accident are higher in Taiwan
But on many roads there are no barriers and head-on collisions occur with monotonous regularity in Taiwan.
Only a few weeks ago my father-in-law was exceptionally fortunate to survive a head-on collision on a mountain road. The driver coming the other way had overtaken on a blind corner!!!
If you drive a car or ride a motorbike here you know, it’s not just fender benders in Taiwan. They drive without due care for the safety of others and the results are far, far different from your hypothetical figures above.
Cheers.[/quote]
I never gave numbers of accidents. I was asking the question on which is worse as in deaths vs injury combinations
I used to regularly travel over the mountain road from Taipei to Ilan. This road is littered with blind corners, twists and turns. Every so often you would see a car left on the side of the road, with the front smashed in resulting from a head on
Ok so perhaps I was wrong to use a blanket statement such as there are no head on collisons, but a head on collision at say 80 KPH on the mountain roads vs a head on collision at say 120 KPH on a two lane straight road, is more survivable
if you use the formula for kinetic energy:
the energy from a 120 KPH head on is something like 2 times the energy from an 80 KPH crash
the energy from a 60 KPH is 4 times less than a 120 KPH head on collision
the energy from an 80 KPH crash is 2 times that of a 60 KPH
That would make sense, due to the generally higher speeds associated with driving in Australia. Also, I think Australia would look much better if you consider the actual distances driven as well ie rate per kilometre travelled.
As an aside, I have to say that Melbourne might be some sort of traffic heaven, but my experience is that Sydney drivers are lunatics. They drive aggressively, speed, run red lights, talk on mobiles, change lanes without indicating, and the concept of ‘safe stopping distance’ seems to have faded from public memory. Of course, it’s nowhere near like Taiwan in any way, but there certainly seem to be a high number of idiots, and it’s not at all unusual to pass the occasional accident scene. So I wouldn’t recommend taking the government study group there
[quote=“TNT”] Say the population of Taiwan is 22 million so that means 0.12% traffic deaths and 0.69% traffic injuries
“Australia - The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s Annual Road Fatalities Report for 1997 lists 1,768 fatalities in motor vehicle accidents while their Hospitalizations Report records 21,531 serious injuries that required hospitalization.”
Say the population of Australia is 19.4 million so that means 0.091% traffic deaths and 0.11% traffic injuries. [/quote]
OK. let’s sum up… The risk of getting injured or killed in a traffic accident is higher in Taiwan than it is in Australia.
Can’t see that it has anything to do with the original question posed by the original poster. The rate of injuries and deaths is higher here, and that what matters. That the higher speeds on the Australian roads lead to a larger proportion of far fewer traffic accidents to be fatal is not relevant in this matter.
[quote=“cybertai”]Well, as a Taiwanese, I think Taiwan should have more accidents than Australia.
Why? Because Taiwan is small and very crowded. And it has one of the fastest “paces of life” in the world.
Everybody’s in a hurry and it’s a small island, it’s very easy to have traffic accidents.
But that’s the nature of Taiwan’s life. Everything moves fast.[/quote]
The ‘pace’ of life in Taiwan is an illusion. If ever there was a case of ‘more haste less speed’ then surely it is Taiwan. Nothing moves really fast in Taiwan, there is just lots of bustle to make it seem like a fast moving place. To have fast moving traffic requires predictability and well thought out road rules that are then enforced. Unfortunately neither exists in Taiwan.
The ‘pace’ of life in Taiwan is an illusion. If ever there was a case of ‘more haste less speed’ then surely it is Taiwan.[/quote]I’ve noticed that most people seem to measure the speed at which they are travelling by comparing it to other vehicles. It’s not “I got from A to B two minutes faster than usual today!”, but rather “I got to the next light before the guy in the GTi!”
I actually worked as a professional truck driver in Western Australia for a year or so about 25 years ago, and the main hazard there was falling asleep at the wheel. On the other hand, even if you did, once you were in the wilderness north of Perth (the southwest is a different kettle of fish) you could stray off the road and the bouncing would wake you up. There wasn’t anything to hit in the desert, though if you were unlucky you could overturn.
Today’s China Post
Taiwan 22.6 millions
Accidents up 16% first 8 months of 2004
1,682 killed
111,729 injured
cf
Australia 20.2 millions
2001 12 months
1,736 killed
Injured - couldn’t find recent statistics - 30,000 in 1991
[quote=“cybertai”]Well, as a Taiwanese, I think Taiwan should have more accidents than Australia.
Why? Because Taiwan is small and very crowded. And it has one of the fastest “paces of life” in the world.
Everybody’s in a hurry and it’s a small island, it’s very easy to have traffic accidents.
But that’s the nature of Taiwan’s life. Everything moves fast.[/quote]
why do taiwanese people insist on trying to use the " Taiwan is small and congested, many people in a small area, fast paced lifestyle" excuse to try and justify anything that is so obviously horribly lacking in Taiwan’s recklessly irresponsible and short sighted society… honestly they try to use it as an excuse for everything… pollution, traffic, pathetic lack of public amenities, work-tv-sleep lifestyles, third world city planning, overwhelmingly selfish “me first” culture…
the entire argument (read: lame excuse) falls flat on it’s face when you just look at Japan… small and congested?.. yes, many people in a small area?.. yes, fast paced lifestyle?.. yes… does it have anything like the level of pollution, traffic stupidity, third world infrastructure, and selfish a**hole mentality of Taiwan… nope…
[quote=“pjdrib”]Today’s China Post
Taiwan 22.6 millions
Accidents up 16% first 8 months of 2004
1,682 killed
111,729 injured
cf
Australia 20.2 millions
2001 12 months
1,736 killed
Injured - couldn’t find recent statistics - 30,000 in 1991[/quote]
Assuming that the number of traffic deaths are indentical over the year, that gives a number of 2,523 over the whole year, or a traffic accident death rate of 0.01116% as a percentage of the whole population for Taiwan.
For Australia, the traffic accident death rate was 0.00859% as a percentage rate for the whole population, or significantly lower than the one in Taiwan.
That settles the argument once and for all, I imagine.
Actually, do you know anyone who crashed here in Taiwan because they hit a Kangaroo? Have you seen anyone with a roo-bar on their car? I’ve been to Australia and my assumption is a big portion of crashes are collisions with kangaroos at night. Take the Kangaroo out of Australia and you definetly would not be having this argument.
Also, Taiwan is not third world in my opinion. Go visit a third world country and you may take that back swiftly.How far do you need to walk to get water?Do you have running water. I hear so many foreigers complaining and making unapropriate comments about Taiwan and I wonder why some of them stay here? If you don’t like it you can leave and go back where you come from. Taiwan has long been exploited by our countries making everything we needed and they paid the high price in terms of pollution and middle class erosion. Go take a tour of the USA 20 years from now and you will see the same gap between the rich and the poor. By then, the problems will have aggravated here too. That’s cause we’re all on the same big sinking boat. So please be nice to our friendly hosts.
Cheers!
I was in Broken Hill (mad max territory) a number of years ago and a car was pulled over because they had hit an eagle. There was not a lot of damage but there was little doubt that the last thing that went through that eagles mind was its arse end.
Apart from that I don’t know anybody who has ever hit big wild life although of course you are right, they sell a lot of roo bars. Most of the popluation is in the cities. So, where did you go to know so many kangaroo killers?
2 Third world country. If this is not third world then its at least the USA in the 1920’s with digital technology.
Complaining. I like it here most of the time, 90% maybe and could consider a future primarily based in this country as I start my 4th year in.
I plan to keep an eye on what can be changed. My biggest complaint is housing and building. I can change that. I plan to build here one day.
Traffiic and what I am learning about the ambulance system will change in time. I am still trying to work out what I can do to help that process rather than just accept it.
I expect you would be complaining just a little if somebody you cared about got picked up by a meat wagon with no first aid and such bad handling that the person dies. These things happen and have just happened to one young foreigner.
first of all, I think that proof that the Taiwanese traffic is far more dangerous than the one in Oz has been posted here by more than 1 poster.
Secondly, it’s natural for foreigners to blow off steam here once in a while, it’s actually one of the primary functions of the web site.
ALSO, the crap with “go home if you don’t like it” can be [graphic suggestion deleted by moderator]. We all have down days, and we all get angry at things at times. That is not symptomatic of us being unhappy here - most of us would leave if that ws the case.
Most of the long termser criticize at times. We like the place and would love to see it improve - if we didn’t we would shut up. Also, by offering our opinions and criticism, we try to help the modernization of the island along.
[quote=“Mr He”]
ALSO, the crap with “go home if you don’t like it” can be stuffed in that place in your body, where light is the scarcest commodity.[/quote]
You notice how this crowd, when it’s gotten over it’s initial rush of “gosh, this place is so coool”, either becomes as vocally cynical as the rest of us, or sneaks off home quietly without saying goodbye?
I’m Australian and I know of a total of zero people that have ever hit a roo.
Sure the big rigs clean them up all the time but they drive 25 hours a day throughout the entire country. Saying ‘take the roos out of Australia’ and you wont have a problem is madness.
Many more accidents are reported in the West and therefore become part of official statistics than in Taiwan because of the legal requirement to do so and insurance.
Are you serious? I didn’t see a kangaroo the entire time (OK, only a week, but…) I was in Aus. I would hazard a guess that 99% of the population don’t live anywhere near kangaroos. I did however notice that Melbournites (Melbournians?) drive very fast.
Thanks for the great laugh Leo. That was excellent!
The wildlife in Oz does get beaten up by passing vehicles but after living in Oz for thirty years, and a lot of that time was spent in country towns, I only know two blokes who have hit roos while driving, both at night. Neither person died or was injured. One car was a write-off and the other, a four wheel drive, suffered only a bent roo-bar.
I know another bloke with a roo bar on the front of his ute that hit a wombat. The roo bar didn’t help at all. Vital parts of the engine were ripped out in the collision but the driver and the wombat both managed to walk away. Although, sadly, my mate said the wombat looked pretty sick.
I didn’t think it was madness, just the kind of (extremely) funny thing that people who have never lived in Oz might think.
I agree, but that doesn’t mean Taiwan doesn’t have problems. And, as mentioned above, when we talk about those problems we are usually just letting off steam. It doesn’t mean we hate the place or we think some other place is better. We’re just making ourselves feel better.
I’m always nice to people who are nice to me. Aren’t you the same?
