Road Deaths – A National Disgrace – 720 per million population

Road Traffic Accidents (RTA’s) are on the decline in most civilized countries.  European figures can be found here where the numbers are expressed for selected European countries from 2018 to 2019 (in deaths per million population) – the UK (now not a part of Europe) has constant 2018 & 2019 figures of 28 (per million).

Bermuda has started the year worryingly, with 2 deaths within the first fortnight of 2021.  Using a population figure of 65,000 or about 15th of a million, this equates to 4/month, 48/annum, 720/million or 72/100,000.  Possibly why Bermuda does not appear in the World Health Organisations (WHO)  statistics

The figure would unenviably place them top of the World Health Rankings figures for RTA deaths!

Does Bermuda have  adequate laws that address all five risk factors:

• speed,
• drunk driving,
• helmets,
• seat-belts (cars) and
• child restraints (cars)?

We can but hope that the figures are a statistical anomaly, that the trend does not continue – but this is a time of year when the roads are not alive with tourists on mopeds, generally less frequently used.