Namibia is accident capital of the world

Namibia has the world’s most dangerous roads, and residents of the country are more likely to die in road accidents than in any other country. 45 out of 100 000 deaths occurring annually in Namibia are road fatalities according to a new study from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute in the US. “The most frequently used index is the fatality rate per distance driven. However, one of the main limitations of this index is that it does not allow us to place road fatalities in the broader context of fatalities from other leading causes of death. That is possible only with fatalities per population,” wrote the study’s authors, Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle. The study compares road deaths to overall deaths in a country. It’s interesting to note that besides the troubled nations of Afghanistan and Ukraine, eight of the ten countries with the highest deaths from all causes per 100 000 people are in Africa, led by Chad (1717) and followed in descending order by Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic, Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Lesotho, and Mozambique – followed by Zambia, Swaziland, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Russia. Specific to deaths from road accidents, only five African countries are amongst the top ten countries having the highest death rates: the aforementioned Namibia (number one) where long stretches of highway through desert expanses encourage speeding, Sudan (4), which has long desert highways like Namibia, and Congo (7) and Malawi (8) with their poor road infrastructures. Swaziland (5) has good road infrastructure but a high incidence of drunken and inept drivers and poorly maintained vehicles. Nevertheless, the fact that Swaziland is the fifth most dangerous place in the world to drive came as a surprise to a Ministry of Transport spokesperson who declined to comment. The study focuses on the 25 deadliest and 25 safest countries with regard to road fatalities, with data sourced from the World Health Organisation (WHO). SA is not included. However, in an appendix SA is listed as having 17 road fatalities per 100 000 deaths annually, less than half of the 36 road fatalities per 100 000 deaths annually in Swaziland. Amongst SA’s other neighbours, Lesotho and Mozambique have 30 road fatalities amongst 100 000 deaths and Botswana has 21. Road users in Zimbabwe are safer than in SA. Zim records 14 road fatalities per 100 000 deaths annually.