Malaysia Ranks 5th For Countries With The Most Dangerous Roads In The World

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Referred to formally as The World's Safest Roads, the study dives into data relating to numerous road safety-related factors to reveal the nations with the safest and most dangerous roads.

"Road safety levels differ greatly across the world, thanks to many factors, such as driver quality, road quality, laws, and speed limits. But where are the safest roads in the world, and which country's roads should you be wary of?" read a portion of the study.

Divulging their methodology in curating the results from this study, the company revealed that the list of countries were selected from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member states, as well as developed nations with a Human Development Index (HDI) of over eight.

Citing their sources, the company revealed that they attained road quality scores from The Global Economy, traffic levels from Numbeo, seatbelt-wearing percentages and percentages of road deaths caused by alcohol from the World Health Organization (WHO), and speed limits per country from Wikipedia.

Ultimately, each country was given a normalised score out of 10 for each factor before an average was calculated. All the countries were ranked together.

The findings were then divided into four different categories: top three countries with the safest roads, top three countries with the most dangerous roads, countries where you are least likely to die on the road, and countries where you are most likely to die on the road.

According to the findings, Malaysia was calculated to have 22.48 road deaths per 100,000 people. Nevertheless, the study also revealed that this finding was not as high when compared to the top two spots on the list for countries where you are most likely to die on the road, with Saudi Arabia and Thailand in first and second place respectively.

"Despite this ranking, there is a substantial difference between Malaysia and Thailand, as the country has almost 10 fewer deaths. Malaysia is the third Asian country in the top three countries with the most deadly roads, and half of the top 10 are from the vast continent," read the study.

The report also scored Malaysia a 5.3 out of seven for road quality score, with the maximum speed limit being 60km per hour, among one of the highest in the ranking. In a concerning finding, the study also revealed that the seatbelt-wearing percentage in Malaysia is only 48%, the second lowest among other countries on the list.

However, Malaysia was also the only country to receive a 0% margin for alcohol attributing to road traffic deaths. Ultimately, Malaysia received a road safety score of 4.07 out of 10.

Rounding off the top three countries with the safest roads in the world was Norway at second place with a score of 7.47, while Sweden and Estonia tied for third, with both countries receiving a 7.42. On the other side of things, the United States clinched second place for countries with the most dangerous roads with a score of 2.53, while Greece landed at third scoring 3.85.

Alternatively, Iceland was listed as the country where you are least likely to die on the road, with the study finding that there are just 2.05 road deaths per 100,000 people, despite poor weather conditions and unpaved roads. Norway placed second on this list as well, with just 2.12 road deaths per 100,000 people, and Switzerland took third place at 2.25 road deaths per 100,000 people.

Surpassing Malaysia by two places, Saudi Arabia was listed as the country where you are most likely to die on the road, with the study finding that there were 35.94 road deaths per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, Thailand took the second spot at 32.21 road deaths per 100,000 people.

Click here to read The World's Safest Roads study by FINN.