Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Road deaths highest in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has recorded the highest rate of road accident fatalities at the Arab and world levels, according to a report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
- By Abdul Rahman Shaheen, Correspondent
- Published: 23:05 June 17, 2009
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has recorded the highest rate of road accident fatalities at the Arab and world levels, according to a report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
According to the report, 49 per 100,000 people are killed in road accidents in Saudi Arabia every year, which is the highest traffic accident fatality rate in the world.
The fatality rate is 41 in Egypt, 48 in Eritrea, 39 in Afghanistan and 34.5 in Tunisia.
The figure is significantly lower in Switzerland at 4.9, 4.9 in Germany, 6 in France, 7.5 and 9.6 in Italy.
The report gave Saudi Arabia 5 points out of 10 in the effectiveness of abiding by speed limits, and 2 out of 10 for the effectiveness of enforcing the use of protective helmets by cyclists and motorcyclists, and 5 out of 10 for the enforcement of safety belts by automobile drivers, and 2 out of 10 in enforcing the laws regarding child passengers.
The report pointed out that there are 7,998,600 registered vehicles in Saudi Arabia.
Among the traffic accident deaths last year, 86 per cent were men and 14 per cent were women, although women are not allowed to drive.
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