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draypresct t1_j8exkzs wrote

I'm surprised that Saudi Arabia's road death rate per 100k people is so high, considering they don't let over half the population drive. I wonder if the low death rates in some countries are driven by lower car ownership in general.

/How the hell does a driver in the UK go fast enough to kill someone? Top Gear Episode 6.7: "Fiat Panda vs. Marathon Runner" in London.

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eric5014 t1_j8fcs72 wrote

Women have been allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia since 2018.

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draypresct t1_j8fjx69 wrote

Only 2% of Saudi Arabian women have driver’s licenses. So yes, technically you are correct, but I’m going to stand by my statement that they don’t let over half their population drive.

https://epod.cid.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/2021-12/AlNahda%20Blog_15Sep2021.pdf

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eric5014 t1_j8fm9hl wrote

Women are still travelling by having their fathers/husbands/etc or taxis (which in some cases adds to distance travelled, although there would be many more women who don't travel due to the difficulty).

I think counting registered vehicles is better than counting licensed drivers. Total distance driven is probably better again for comparing number of crashes. And passenger-distance better again for comparing number of road deaths.

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tilapios t1_j8eydun wrote

>considering they don't let over half the population drive. I wonder if the low death rates in some countries are driven by lower car ownership in general.

The point of reporting deaths per 100k is to account for differences in the number of drivers. And Saudi Arabia's road death rate per 100k is probably so high exactly because only men can drive.

Edit: It's per total population not per driver. My mistake. I still maintain Saudi road death rates are high because only men can drive.

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draypresct t1_j8eymyj wrote

>The point of reporting deaths per 100k is to account for differences in the number of drivers.

I thought it was per 100k people, not per 100k drivers? If it's 100k drivers, that might explain it.

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tilapios t1_j8f0cuy wrote

Good point, it is per 100k population. But even if women can't drive in Saudi, they can still ride in cars and die in road accidents, although WHO statistics show 87% of reported road traffic fatalities were men. I also can't figure out if a pedestrian killed by a car counts as a road traffic fatality.

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ismaelsow OP t1_j8f81hb wrote

Yes that also counts as a road traffic fatality in the source study.

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st4n13l t1_j8ezyux wrote

It's per 100k population not per 100k drivers

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CoffeeWorldly4711 t1_j8gg01y wrote

As someone who had spent some some time in Saudi Arabia (and the surrounding countries), the relatively high death rate in Saudi Arabia is largely down to Saudis being very poor drivers. Add in the prevalence of large powerful cars driven by relatively poor drivers and the high death rate is no surprise

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