In the spooky spirit of Halloween, we've compiled a list of truly scary facts about driving!
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- Driving is dangerous!- Since so many of us drive or are driven daily, this activity is just about the most dangerous thing the average person undertakes, with over 3 700 people per day perishing on global roads!
- Over 2 000 per day!- As seen in data from 2022, there were more than 2 200 road traffic accidents per day in South Africa alone!
- Mind your age- People aged between 15-29's biggest risk of mortality worldwide is getting into a car accident.
- Texting and driving- Some scary figures surrounding an extensive UK-based survey into texting and driving revealed that 98% of people know that texting while driving is dangerous, with 25% stating that texting while driving doesn't affect their driving, while 28% state that they text and drive as they are worried that they miss an important message.
- Odds of an accident injury - According to research by the USA-based National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), two of every three drivers will be involved in a car accident and be injured in some way during their lifetime!
- Anger and speed kill- When analysing traffic accidents around the world, researchers have noted that driving in anger (road rage) and speeding, sometimes a combination of the two, are the two leading causes of death on our roads.
- SA deaths per 100 000- South Africa registers some 25.9 deaths per 100 000 people as a result of road accidents, nearly ten times higher than the lowest deaths per year recorded by Switzerland (2.65)
- You'd potentially fail your test- Research has shown that 40% of licensed drivers sampled during a study failed their driving exam when asked to do their test again without preparation.
- Men beware- When reading accident statistics from around the world, it appears that men are far more likely to be involved in a serious car accident than women.
- The closer to home- What was considered a bit of an urban myth, the perception that a person who has a car accident is more likely to do so near their home turns out to be true, with more than 50% of accidents occurring within 10km of the driver's home.
