Hmm, read the post comparing Australian and Taiwanese traffic figures. So, I checked Canada. Math isn’t my thing so feel free to recheck my numbers. Last I heard the population of Canada wasn’t much higher than Taiwans…again I’m not sure. But either way the number of daily fatalities is actually slightly higher in Canada. But with the higher population maybe your personal chance of being involved is still lower. But the suprising thing is (to me anyway) that they are comparable. Roughly 8 people die each day in Canada as well as Taiwan in traffic accidents. Here are the links to see for yourself:
And maybe you can figure out how many injuries there are per year/day in Taiwan…I couldn’t quite figure it out. In Canada it’s about 200,000 a year. That’s 548 people a day being injured.
One other statisic: [quote]In America rougly 3,000 people a year are killed by motorists who are talking on their cell phones at the time. This number comes close to the 911 tragedy, but you don’t see them making cell phones illegal or installing cell phone blockers into cars.[/quote]
That’s from a study they did in the states that was used by a motorcycle magazine that I have.
i think it’s effectively impossible to compare accident rates in Taiwan to any other country, for the reasons listed in the “police in Taiwan” thread and also what Hexuan wrote below…
[quote=“plasmatron”]I think it’s effectively impossible to compare accident rates in Taiwan to any other country, for the reasons listed in the “police in Taiwan” thread and also what Hexuan wrote below…
I’m not sure if this is necessarily true anymore. The police in Vancouver, for example, no longer come to the scene of an accident unless someone is injured. It is very common for people settle between themselves and because such cases are not reported they do not figure in official statistics.
[quote=“Mucha (Muzha) Man”]The police in Vancouver, for example, no longer come to the scene of an accident unless someone is injured.[/quote]… and here in Taiwan, if either party is planning on an insurance claim the cops usually have to be involved and issue an accident report.
Canada has about 31 million people, and Taiwan about 21 million. Given the fact that we have 33% more people, longer distances to travel, whether it’s between cities or to the nearest 7-11, and also given that our highways are much faster than Taiwan highways, I’m not surprised that fatalities are almost the same.
[quote=“Mucha (Muzha) Man”]
I’m sorry, I don’t get your point.[/quote]A lot of accidents without injuries are reported here, for the purposes of insurance claims against damage to property. So, it may appear that you’re less likely to be injured in an accident than (say) in Canada.
Canada has about 31 million people, and Taiwan about 21 million. Given the fact that we have 33% more people, longer distances to travel, whether it’s between cities or to the nearest 7-11, and also given that our highways are much faster than Taiwan highways, I’m not surprised that fatalities are almost the same.[/quote]
Well, with that in mind since both Canada and Taiwan have about 8 deaths per day. Then per capita Taiwan you are 1/3 more likely to be killed on Taiwan roads then on Canadian. Interesting.
And as far as accidents being reported or not…I’m pretty sure all the fatalities get reported .
Could someone do the math and figure out if you have 21 million people and 2800 of them die a year on the roads. What are the odds of any one person dying on any givin day…or year? And please don’t list variables, just do the basic math…which I’m either too dumb or too lazy to do.
[quote=“Mordeth”]
Could someone do the math and figure out if you have 21 million people and 2800 of them die a year on the roads. What are the odds of any one person dying on any givin day…or year? And please don’t list variables, just do the basic math…which I’m either too dumb or too lazy to do.[/quote]
to answer this correctly you need to take a Taiwanese approach, so I’ve whipped out my abacus and run the numbers… according to my calculations the average road user in Taiwan has an 83% chance of dying on the roads on any given day looks like it’s going to be quiet around here next week, damn abacus…
actually i’m no statistician, but if 2800 people knock themselves off on the roads every year, that means on average out of 21million people 7.67 per day don’t make it home, so it seems like barring all variables (thereby making the result totally meaningless) your chances are 2,737,940 to 1 that today’s the day the blue trucks are finally going to get you…
It doesn’t surprise me that the rate is only 33 percent higher in Taiwan. I agree that the traffic is terrible here, and the drivers appear to be insane, but …
In Canada, there are fewer cars, so people drive faster.
Canada is 270 times bigger than Taiwan, so we drive for longer distances.
And, it seems to me that Canadians are too complacent as drivers. They expect other drivers to follow the rules. If one of them doesn’t, the other drivers aren’t prepared, and so crash into them. In Taipei, I’ve seen plenty of close calls, but I have so far never seen a bad accident: they drive badly, true, but they are vigilant and expect everyone else to drive badly too. If a Taiwanese person drove in Canada the way he drives here, he’d probably be in a bad accident the first day of his trip.
LOL <----- one of the few instances where LOL actually means I laughed out loud…and in this case loudly. Nice one, plasmatron. Or it could be the fact that I’m doing whippets.
Canada also has something that Taiwan doesn’t have… Animals!!! Did all the numbers on vehicle fatalities involve humans only? I have heard that Newfoundland
Canada has another thing Taiwan doesn’t have…snow! If Taiwan had one dump, there would be one massive clusterf*ck with every car on the island in one twisted pile.
simon fraser university, vancouver, about 10 years back … about 4 inches stuck to the ground … driving the 4x4 up the hill to tend the bar. approach the last intersection with a traffic light, and prompty swerve to avoid the little civic that managed to start sliding down the road on the wrong side of the barriers after attempting a left hand turn.
she slid down the hill quite a ways, until bumping against the curb rather hard. lucky that very little traffic was going anywhere. told me that taichung didn’t get much snow …
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