It has been a remarkable year for the city of London, as motorcycle death drops by 60 per cent in provisional figures as announced during the Transport for London motorcycle and road safety meeting.
While the meeting was attended by a number of prominent motorcycle organisations including BMF (British Motorcyclists Federation), MAG (Motorcycle Action Group), Keith Prince (GLA, MAG member & Assembly Member), Dave Bottomley (MET Sergeant & BikeSafe) and TfL officials, but as it turns out, nobody is sure what is the primary factor behind the significant drop in accidents.
“I’m impressed with the dramatic fall in motorcycle deaths in London last year.
“The officers committed to working with the London riding community to further understand the reasons for this welcome improvement, plus engaging with the delivery rider sector on safety issues, and treating all two-wheeler users fairly and without discrimination.
“Overall, this meeting was results-orientated in a very tangible way,” said Keith Prince, Deputy Chair of the GLA Transport Committee.
While the primary factor behind the low numbers is still widely discussed, perhaps among other reasons is the 30km/h speed limit in the city centre that helps lower motorcycle fatalities.
The second possibilities are the lower traffic counts in the past two years as more Londoners have been working from home due to the ongoing pandemic.
Meanwhile, the number of motorcycle fatalities is expected to decrease in 2022 as a new speed limit of 15mph (25km/h) is implemented across London, as announced last year.
Here are 10 countries ranked by the highest proportion of motorcycle-related deaths.
The number of fatalities is staggering, running into the millions in total.
Most countries here don’t regulate helmet standards and don’t require motorcyclists to wear helmets.
Here’s something sobering. Motorcycle-related deaths in traffic accidents still account for the highest proportion in most – if not all – countries around the world.
But there are a number of countries in which the proportion of motorcycle-related deaths are higher. Included in this list are a number of countries we often ride to and in.
10. Paraguay – 52.2%
This landlocked South American country has 1.8 million registered vehicles, of nearly 560,000 are motorcycles. Although the proportion of motorcycles are only 30 percent, they contribute to 52.2% of total road fatalities. Ironically, the country practices strict enforcement of their highway code and motorcyclists are required to wear helmets.
9. Colombia – 52.5%
There are more motorcycles than cars in Colombia, to the tune of 55%. While helmet law isn’t enforced, 96% of riders and 80% of their passengers wear helmets. Still, the death rate is a high 52.5% percent.
8. Republic of Benin 56.5%
Benin is located in west Africa. Here, there are no regulations for helmet standards, nor are motorcyclists required to wear helmets. There are 195,000 motorcycles compared to 470,000 cars (41%).
7. Malaysia – 60%
According to the 2016 WHO report, Malaysia has 27,613,120 registered vehicles. 46% of those are motorcycle, totaling 12,677,041. There are helmet laws and the highway code is rather extensive. Helmet quality regulations are also tight. Yet we rank high as one among the countries with the highest number of motorcycle-related deaths in the world. We’ll leave out the why. For now.
6. Myanmar – 64.8%
There are 5.4 million motorcycles among 6.4 million registered vehicles in this country. Like some of the countries in this list, there is no regulation on helmet quality despite the law requiring motorcycles to wear helmets.
5. Dominican Republic – 67%
Motorcycles account for nearly 54% (2.1 million) of the total vehicles in this country. Helmet use isn’t mandatory, hence only some 27% of riders and 2% of passengers wear helmets. The Dominican Republic was ranked with the highest road accident fatality rate in the world in 2013.
4. Republic of Togo – 71.6%
The Republic of Togo is the neighbor to the Republic of Benin. It has only 45,341 registered vehicles. The country doesn’t make helmet use mandatory and it reflects on the large number of fatalities.
3. Cambodia – 73.5%
We’re into the top three. Cambodia has a total of 2,714,913 registered motorcycles. Helmet usage isn’t mandatory here. A survey held that 70% of riders wear helmets during the day but that percentage drops to only 43% at night. Additionally, 30% of the passengers put on helmets during the day but it drops to only 13% at night.
2. Indonesia – 73.6%
Indonesia is currently the biggest motorcycle market in the world. More than half of the country’s 250 million population own a vehicle, and more than half of that are motorcycles. Only 71% of riders wear helmets.
1. Thailand – 74.4%
Thailand holds the unfortunate record as having the most dangerous roads in South East Asia, Asia and additionally the most dangerous for motorcyclists. The government has encouraged motorcyclists to wear helmets, besides the passenger. There seems to be no regulations on helmet quality and standards. The percentage is staggering – almost 3 out of every four deaths were motorcycle-related.
India – 98,700 motorcycle-related fatalities
The country with the highest number of motorcycle-related deaths is India. The WHO estimates that there were 299,091 total traffic-related deaths in subcontinent, 33% of those attributed to motorcycles. While the percentage is low, it is the highest in terms of pure numbers, totaling 98,700 fatalities. The total death rate is so high that it tops the African, Americas, Eastern Mediterranean and European regions. China was second with 256,180 total deaths.
Op Selamat 15 recorded another 13 fatalities after a total of 176 on 7th June, bringing the new total to an alarming 189, in just 24 hours.
Op Selamat 15 began on 29th May and ends on 12th June.
A total of 241,144 summonses were issued between 29th May to 8th June.
Op Selamat 15 recorded another 13 fatalities after a total of 176 on 7th June, bringing the new total to an alarming 189, in just 24 hours.
Royal Malaysia Police said that 177 fatal accidents were recorded between May 29 and June 8th. They resulted in 189 deaths.
The 15th Op Selamat was launched on May 29 in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive season. The season is when scores of Malaysians return home to celebrate the festivities with their loves ones and travel around to meet other relatives and friends.
Selangor recorded the highest number of fatalities at 33, followed by Johor at 28 and Perak with 18, thus far.
A total of 241,144 summonses were issued during the period through 3,226 traffic operations by the police. Accordingly, the largest number of summonses were issued in Selangor (33,310), Johor (19,278) and Perak (18,072).
Bear (nothing to do with the sun bear) in mind that the number of accidents and fatalities here could be higher as most went by unreported. Also the number of summonses does not include those from JPJ (Road Transport Ministry) operations and from the Automated Awareness System (AWAS) speed cameras.
The operations centres on six major traffic offences. They are driving in the emergency lane, overtaking over double lines, using mobile phone without handsfree while driving, queue-jumping, speeding and running traffic lights.
Op Selamat 15 is set to end on 12th June.
To us, the number of accidents and fatalities are beyond alarming. Motorcyclists still constitute the largest number involved. The authorities had better overhaul the entire driver licensing syllabus – NOW!
