Malaysian Roads Are 17th Most Dangerous In The World According To Study

Malaysia is among the top 25 most dangerous countries for road users, with 30 fatalities per 100,000 individuals, according to research by the University of Michigan.

In comparison, the United States of America registered only 14 fatalities, France recorded seven, Germany and Singapore six, and the United Kingdom only five fatalities per 100,000 people.

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The world average is 18 fatalities per 100,000 people. Namibia topped the most dangerous list with 45 deaths, while the safest place to enjoy a cruise is the small island nation of the Maldives with two deaths.

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Conducted by the university’s Transportation Research Institute using 2008 World Health Organisation (WHO) data on 193 countries, the February 2014 research lists Malaysia as 17th most dangerous for drivers.

The only other Southeast Asian nation within the 25 most dangerous is Thailand, ranked second most dangerous for drivers, with 44 fatalities per 100,000 people.

In comparison, the United States of America registered only 14 fatalities, France recorded seven, Germany and Singapore six, and the United Kingdom only five fatalities per 100,000 people.

Island nations such as Malta (3 deaths per 100,000), Fiji (4), the Marshall Islands (4), and Tonga (4) were places where one was least likely to die from road accidents. This possibly can be attributed to their low number of vehicles.

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Namibia has the highest car-accident death rate in the world, with 45 people killed on the road out of every 100,000 citizens. The country's roads are notoriously dangerous because travellers are not familiar with the landscape and conditions. Drivers run the risk of rolling their vehicles on the African nation's gravel roads.

“While I cannot speak specifically about Malaysia, we do know that as development increases for a nation, road fatalities often increase too,” he said while pointing to China and India as examples.

“Therefore, they are not always the same as official national estimates, although WHO, whenever possible, will provide member states the opportunity review and comment on data and estimates as part of country consultations.”

“Many of the data-sets represent the best estimates of WHO using methodologies for specific indicators that aim for comparability across countries and time."

Fatalities per population from road crashes were compared with fatalities from other leading causes of death such as malignant neoplasm (cancer) and ischaemic heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease.