South Africa tops the list as the world’s most dangerous country to drive in.
This is according to Zutobi, an innovative online driver education platform.
The survey analysed countries across the world based on indicators including motorway speed limits, blood alcohol concentration limits for drivers and road traffic death rates, to determine the world’s safest and most dangerous countries to drive.
“South Africa is the world’s most dangerous country to drive, according to the factors that we analysed. There are an estimated 22.2 road traffic deaths per 100 000 of the population,” the report said.
“The maximum motorway speed limit in South Africa is 120 km/h, which is not far from the 110km/h limit in the safest country to drive, Norway. However, just 31% of front seat passengers in South Africa are estimated to wear a seatbelt, while in Norway the figure is 97.8%.”
The report further reveals in SA that the rate of alcohol-related road traffic deaths stands at 57.5%. The risk of a drunk driving-related fatality is highest in South Africa.
The top five safest countries have been identified as Norway, Hungary, Iceland, Japan, and Estonia with South Africa, Thailand, the United States, Argentina, and India named as the most dangerous countries to drive in.
It is also stated that the world’s safest driving countries this year had experienced minimal change from the prior year.
Norway is the safest country in the world to drive in for the third year in a row, with runners-up Iceland and Hungary ranking among the top five safest countries last year. Albania jumped five places to number ten on the list of countries with the safest roads.
On the other hand, the most dangerous countries for driving have remained consistent since last year, with the three most dangerous seeing no change.
However, Moldova saw its road traffic death rate increase by over 30%, from 7.3 to 9.83 per 100 000 people, while several countries saw their rates improve, particularly Bosnia and Herzegovina (from 13.5 to 7.35 per 100 000 people).
The average number of estimated road traffic deaths per 100 000 across all countries has decreased since the previous year from 9.7 to 8.9, while there has been no change in national speed limits and blood alcohol concentration limits in each country.
The Star