11381 Driving gets safer in Italy

I have just opened my monthly ACI members' magzine and thought I would share their report on road safety.

The good news is that road deaths and injuries fell again in 2007 deaths down 9.5% to 5,131 and injuries down 2.1% to 325,850. This continues the year on year falls reported since the year 2000. But that's still more than 14 people a day being killed.

At the end of the post is a link to the full report from which you can check out loads of stats for your area and from which I have gleaned:

[LIST]
[*]deaths are 67% higher in Italy than in the UK (2007 = 3,058)
[*]July is the most dangerous month
[*]Saturday the most dangerous day
[*]18,00 hrs the most dangerous time of day
[*]and Male 25-29 year olds the most likely to die
[/LIST]Yet oddly, I have never seen a road safety campaign on local TV!:no:

[URL]http://www.aci.it/fileadmin/documenti/notizie/Comunicati/Siss_Sintesi_Studio2.pdf[/URL]

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 05:31

Hi Ghianda

This is really interesting because we often get emails from overseas guests who are worried about driving in Italy. And the most worried are usually our American guests but if this report is to be believed then Italy is a good deal safer than America. [url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1208]National Statistics Online[/url] last paragraph.

What is surprising is the days, months when more deaths occur. Because in Italy lorries are not allowed on the motorways at the weekend in July and so do we presume that the accidents are due to more holiday makers who are not used to travelling ?at speed, ?with passengers?on more crowded roads ?on motorways. I am always heaps more scared of the lorries. And, always thought that driving in Italy was more scary just before 1pm when Italy dashes home for lunch before the pasta goes past al dente. Age and gender - no surprise there, seems to be the same worldwide.

ps love the signature.. no need for suits up our hill either, although one in mothballs for funerals etc.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 06:44

I wonder how many of the road deaths and injuries are motorbikes and scooters?

In the hot weather it is not unusual to see young men riding quite powerful bikes and wearing T shirt, shorts and flip flops. More are wearing crash helmets now but I still see some who aren’t.

Might explain why Saturday and July top the list.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 06:50

[quote=Aretina;107780]Hi Ghianda

This is really interesting because we often get emails from overseas guests who are worried about driving in Italy. And the most worried are usually our American guests but if this report is to be believed then Italy is a good deal safer than America. [url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1208]National Statistics Online[/url] last paragraph.[/quote]
As always, statistics can be tricky. Note that the NSO article at first states the decrease in UK traffic deaths per 100 million vehicle kilometres, but when comparing to the US they compare traffic deaths per 100,000 population. I think you'll find the distances in the US are much longer, and the amount of kms driven are much higher. For a meaningful comparison they should compare traffic deaths per 100 million vehicle kilometres between the two countries.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 07:28

Hi Noma

Yes, agree - never easy to compare like with like. What is the saying, Lies, damn lies and statistics!!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 08:06

[quote=Nielo;107784]I wonder how many of the road deaths and injuries are motorbikes and scooters?quote]

Couldn't find any thing specific in the report other than 55 deaths were caused by falling from the vehicle. Presumably (but not certainly, given this is Italy) a good number of these would have involved 2 wheelers.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 08:37

Probably - and some of those deaths will have been children hanging on to the handlebars as papa whizzes around town on his Vespa doing wheelies.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbIG5SIrmpg&feature=related]YouTube - Figura di merda in vespa[/ame]

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 08:41

[quote=Ghianda;107788]

Couldn't find any thing specific in the report other than 55 deaths were caused by falling from the vehicle. Presumably (but not certainly, given this is Italy) a good number of these would have involved 2 wheelers.[/quote]

A reasonable assumption: but (given this is Italy) what do you make of Table 16 (on page 13 of your ACI link)?

This Table considers only the [U]driver[/U] of the vehicle, but it tells me that 23 [U]drivers[/U] under five years old were injured in 2007......

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 08:51

Hi Charles

These 'drivers' are probably the ones who help Mummy or Daddy drive while standing in the back between the front seats. This position is surely the fastest way to God.

I wonder how many of these parents would put a box of eggs on the back seat.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 10:44

Last summer I saw a car drive past and the DRIVER had his dog in his lap. On balance (brain cell for brain cell), I would have to say I would have prefered it if the dog been driving.:eeeek: