Ecuador’s worryingly high fatal crash rate

Ecuador’s shocking high road fatality rate is giving cause for concern. Official statistics compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggest that Ecuador is second only to Venezuela in Latin America with regard to fatalities on the road network. The WHO figures show that Ecuador has an average of 28 deaths/100,000 inhabitants from road crashes, well above the global average of 18 deaths/100,000 inhabitants. Only Venezuela’s even more startling figure of 37 deaths/100,000 inhabitants is higher in Lati
June 21, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Ecuador’s shocking high road fatality rate is giving cause for concern. Official statistics compiled by the 3263 World Health Organisation (WHO) suggest that Ecuador is second only to Venezuela in Latin America with regard to fatalities on the road network. The WHO figures show that Ecuador has an average of 28 deaths/100,000 inhabitants from road crashes, well above the global average of 18 deaths/100,000 inhabitants. Only Venezuela’s even more startling figure of 37 deaths/100,000 inhabitants is higher in Latin America. The report is based on 2010 data however and Justicia Vial, believes that the figure would be 32.4 deaths/100,000 inhabitants in Ecuador and 23 deaths/100,000 inhabitants as the average for Latin America if more recent statistics were used. Injuries from road traffic crashes are the main cause of death for children aged 5-14 and the second highest cause of death for people aged from 15-44. Ecuador's National Transit Agency (ANT) has also revealed that 50.09% of accidents could be attributed to either inexperience or careless driving. A further 13.2% are caused by a disregard for regulations, 12.31% by excessive speed, 9.73% by drinking, 7.69% by external conditions and 6.99% by the carelessness of others. The toll is particularly heavy on pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists and the latest information shows that the risk is by no means abating, with 308 people killed in road traffic crashes between January and February 2013. 

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Safety gains on Europe’s roads with lower KSI rates
    February 19, 2014
    Better road safety is helping to cut KSI rates right across the EC - Mike Woof writes Road safety continues to improve in Europe, with official statistics for 2012 showing a drop in fatalities of 2,661 compared with the figures for 2011. The latest data from Pan-European police body TISPOL shows an encouraging trend towards better road safety. This highlights safety improvements right across the EU. In 2012, a total of 27,700 people were killed in road crashes in the European Union’s 27 member states, eq
    Read More
  • Road safety gain for UK in 2013
    June 26, 2014
    The UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) reveals that the road fatality rate for 2013 was the lowest since records began in 1926. The data shows that 1,713 people died on the UK’s road network in 2013, around half that of the figure recorded for the year 2000. This reveals an on-going improvement in road safety levels. The DfT statistics show that in 2013, 21,657 people were seriously injured in road crashes, while the total number of casualties of all severities stood at 183,670. Car occupant fatalities in
    Read More
  • Europe’s road safety challenge for the future
    March 2, 2022
    Europe’s road safety challenge is to reduce casualties for the future.
    Read More
  • Report on cost of US crashes
    March 11, 2016
    A comprehensive analysis of crash statistics in the US reveals the shocking cost of vehicle crashes. The report has been collated by the by the US Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and is based on details collated for 2010. The report states that in 2010 there were 32,999 fatalities, 3.9 million injured, and 24 million vehicles damaged following crashes in the US. The economic costs of these crashes totalled US$242 billion. Included in these losses are lost
    Read More

Highlighted Content