Job Discussion Forums

[dagi]

Stolen from another forum:

Eurostat has released its traffic fatality figures for 2004, including those for all candidate states. Reflecting everything from car and road conditions to driving habits, it makes interesting reading.
Seen by region, Greece has the most causalities (occupying 7 places out of the top-10 most dangerous regions). Turkey and Romania have the lowest car ownership, but the worst record.

Number of persons killed per million passenger cars, 2004:

Turkey 820
Latvia 752
Romania 749
Lithuania 571
Slovakia 507
Poland 476
Hungary 458
Croatia 454
Greece 409
Bulgaria 386
Czech Rep. 362
Estonia 360
Cyprus 348
Slovenia 292
Belgium 282
Spain 242
Ireland 236
Portugal 226
Austria 213
Denmark 192
France 178
Italy 175
Luxembourg 170
Finland 159
Germany 129
Netherlands 126
UK 121
Sweden 117
Malta 61

[dagi]

[url]http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-07-014/EN/KS-SF-07-014-EN.PDF[/url]

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

Yes we all know about the driving in Turkey ... but do your figures include the road deaths of bus passengers, lorry drivers etc and pedestrians who may not own a car ...

... the % of people in the UK who own a car is probably much higher than that in Turkey ...

... which means your numbers expose poorer countries whose roads may well be as busy as those of their richer cousins (or busier) but whose population can't afford a car ....

[dagi]

Sheikh, I am lost with my English and don't understand what you mean exactly.
But those are not "my" figures, but the ones published by Eurostat. If you use the link I posted you get the full report on road safety in Europe.

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

Suppose two countries, A & B, have the same population and the same number of road deaths, but the rich country (A) has more cars than the poor country (B), we have the following stats -

A) 50,000 deaths divided by 10 million cars = 5,000 deaths per million cars

B) 50,000 deaths divided by 5 million cars = 10,000 deaths per million cars

[billybuzz]

The motor vehicle population of Turkey including heavy goods vehicles is less than 15 million .Bear in mind that the size of the country is about 780 thousand square kilometres which is about 3 times bigger than the U.K. which has a poulation (motor vehicle) approaching 28.5 million . I think that puts these numbers into a clearer perspective . Training and driver education over here is still woefully inadequate . Even police drivers could do with a good stint at Hendon .

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

A friend had to take the Turkish driving test ... he got a translator in for the written part (a translator who knew all the answers) ... and didn't have to do much more than drive in a straight line for 100m in the practical ...

Needless to say, he didn't do much to improve road safety ... but I'm not entirely convinced he did anything to lower it either ...

[tvik]

i stupidly let my canadian drivers licence expire.... what can i do??? can i get a turkish one???

[billybuzz]

Can't you re-apply for a new one ? Does the average traffic cop understand a foreign driving license ?I know of at least 3 people in this city who have provisional licenses only .
Sounds like taking the Turkish test is a no-brainer anyway .

[sandyhoney2]

[yaramaz]

Mine was lost (read: stolen) before it expired and I havent been back to Canada since I lost it. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do about it so I emailed the kindly folks at the Ministry of Motor Vehicles (BC) and they told me this: once expired, you can apply for a renewal in person at a branch within 3 years. Beyond that 3 years, you will have to retake the tests. I have one more year to go in order to get home and get that license... dont want to take any tests because I havent actually driven a car since 1997!!!

[yaramaz]

Also, I forgot to mention: it may not be that easy to get a Turkish one. Someone I know tried and found out that you must apply for it within X amout of time of having arrived in the country (for example, not after your first 6 months). Not sure the timing but there was definitely a limit. After that the bureaucracy becomes even worse, and I assume it would be exponentially more horrific with an expired home license.

[bigbadsuzie]

I think one of the major problems in this country related to cars is parking . These people just do not know how to park their vehicles in a safe and considerate manner .Usually they take up enough space for two or more cars and some of the places they leave them astound me . It always seems to me that the place where a vehicle is left is in direct proportion to its size and cost .The more expensive they are the more stupid the parking spot . Logic as we know it just goes right out the window .

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

You'd love it here then ... at school spilling out times, 3 lane highways are rendered impassable as parents and chauffeurs park up in whichever lane has any space left .. before tooting their horns madly to attract the attention of their darling children ...

It makes Turkey look like a triumph of logic over chaos ...

[Vixter]

I get pretty mad on a daily basis about the standard of driving here - there seems to be no method to the madness at roundabouts - my husband told me to look at the other driver and whoever had the most determined look on their face goes first - it's a battle of wills. Also noone ever uses their mirrors and the onus seems to be on the person behind to accomodate and anticipate the driver in front who cuts them up, causing them to break hard etc, as if you go into the back of someone it's always your fault. (Mostly true in the UK about the fault thing, but at least people try to avoid it actually happening).

Undertaking also drives me mad, as does a family of 8 squashed into a very old Tofas with the baby on the knee of someone in the front seat. With no seat belts. Ladies driving with headscarves pulled so high around their face that their periferal vision is non existent. Every day I see an accident, and every day about 15 people have just jumped out of their cars leaving them anywhere on the road to go and have a look. Is the craziness due to people saying that their life is in the hands of God? Their's might be, but I'd rather they didn't risk mine to by not even looking before pulling out. grrrrr.