[PRCo] Re: Indian cultural differences

[Schneider Fred]

http://www.driveandstayalive.com/info%20section/statistics/stats- 
multicountry-percapita-2004.htm

Most recent data I could find was 2004.   "Close enough for govmint  
work."

Yes, China killed 107,077 people on their roads in 2004 but that is  
out of a population of 1.3 billion people.   India lost 90,000 out of  
a billion people.   We lost 42,636 out of 293.5 million.

China had 8.26 fatalities per 100,000 people, India had 8.33 and we  
had 14.53.   What is astonishing is that we have far more miles of  
multi-lane express highways than China or India and they are  
inherently safer than city streets.   Our insistence on high speed  
driving and getting there first is wiping us out.   And our lousy  
training of our drivers does not help either.

Surprisingly, the worst death rate was Russia with almost 25 deaths  
per 100,000 population.  The only had about 20 miles of expressways  
in the entire country.   I suspect there it has a lot to do with the  
prevailing attitude that if you get caught going through a stop sign  
or speeding, you bribe the cop and go on driving the same way.   I  
photographed an accident between a truck that turned left in front of  
a streetcar.   The replacement truck came up and emptied all the  
cargo so it couldn't be impounded.   The the police were called.    
Then I watched the money changing hands.   Then everybody went on  
their way and a ten car blockade of streetcars cleared out.

Germany, with a motor vehicle registration rate about the same as  
ours but with people driving about half as many miles per year as we  
do and with a tremendous number of miles of express highways (very  
well designed ones) with no speed limits outside of rural areas, has  
a fatality rate half that of the U. S. A.    Their rate is 7.09 per  
100,000.I've always maintained that the Germans do a fabulous job  
teaching their kids how to drive and I think the death rate proves  
it.   (The only more populous country with a lower rate is Japan.)    
Germany don't believe in letting mom or dad or Uncle Harvey teach you  
how to drive.   You want to get a drivers license, you pay a driving  
school $2,000 and they will you teach you.  And they will do it right.



On Dec 6, 2008, at 1:27 PM, John Swindler wrote:

>
>
> So what's the annual highway death toll in India??
>
> For instance, it was a surprise couple years ago to learn that  
> China has about twice the number of highway fatalities as the US.
>
> John> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> From:  
> fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Indian cultural  
> differences> Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 18:51:55 -0500> > For those of  
> you who did take the time to look at some of those you- > tube  
> videos of India, the rucus of automobile horns on the streets is >  
> different from here. As our guides and bus drivers explained it to  
> > us, blowing the horn in India doesn't mean, "Get out my way you  
> F--n > S. O. B., I have the right of way." Rather it means, "Hello  
> friend, > I'm here and I don't want you to get hurt. Please don't  
> walk in > front of me."> > A horn never wears out in the United  
> States. I suspect it is a > renewable part in India because you do  
> not drive two blocks in town > without using it.> > There was a  
> case in Lancaster last year where a lady who was drunk > went down  
> the wrong expressway ramp and ran head on into a car coming > the  
> other way. She killed two men. Last month she was sentenced > to  
> two terms, each of ten year!
>  s to be served consecutively. In > India, if you want to pull onto  
> a non-limited access expressway from > a home or gas station and  
> you are on the westbound side but want to > go eastward, you simply  
> drive east against the current of traffic > until you have a place  
> to cross over to the other lanes. That is > much more expedient  
> than driving a mile out of your way and turning > around. And an  
> Indian expressway will have cattle sleeping on it, > elephants  
> carrying burdens, trucks, cars, motorized rickshaws, > bicycles  
> (except where they are on bridges through towns and then non- >  
> motorized vehicles may be prohibited but you still can't restrict  
> the > sacred cows), and perhaps even a camel caravan in the west. I  
> > even saw a man walking down the middle of an expressway with  
> water > bottles on his shoulders ... it was explained that he was  
> carrying > water from the Ganges to another river to appease his  
> god in the hope > of a better monsoon to end a five year drought.  
> By the !
>  way, I never > saw an accident on the roads in India. The first one I
> saw in two > weeks was after I got off the plane in New York ...  
> then I saw where > a dufus of a truck driver had hit an expressway  
> ramp too fast and > rolled a semi onto its side! That was within  
> 4,000 feet of JFK > airport. >
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