Skip to main content

Myanmar road safety concern

Concern is being expressed at the rapid rise in road deaths in Myanmar. The road fatality rate has increased substantially in recent years, as has the number of vehicles on the country’s road network. In the period from 2009-2014, the number of registered vehicles in Myanmar more than doubled. And in 2014 the World Health Organisation highlighted its concern that Myanmar’s road death rate had more than tripled in less than 10 years. According to official data, Myanmar had over 15,000 road crashes, 25,000
April 7, 2016 Read time: 1 min
Concern is being expressed at the rapid rise in road deaths in Myanmar. The road fatality rate has increased substantially in recent years, as has the number of vehicles on the country’s road network. In the period from 2009-2014, the number of registered vehicles in Myanmar more than doubled. And in 2014 the World Health Organisation highlighted its concern that Myanmar’s road death rate had more than tripled in less than 10 years.

According to official data, Myanmar had over 15,000 road crashes, 25,000 injuries and 4,000 road deaths in 2015. Rangoon, Mandalay, Pegu and Irrawaddy had the highest casualty rates. Key safety issues include a widespread failure to use helmets while riding motorcycles or seatbelts when in cars. Driving under the influence, using cellphones at the wheel and speeding are also known to be major causes of crashes in the country.

Related Content

  • Research reveals rash driving road risk for young drivers
    May 15, 2015
    Research by the RAC Foundation reveals the high risk posed by young drivers on the UK’s roads. Meanwhile the UK’s Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is calling for stronger measures on drivers aged 70 or more. Young drivers aged 17-19 only account for 1.5% of the UK’s driving population but feature in 12% of crashes involving serious injuries and fatalities. Around 20% of young drivers aged 17-19 will have a crash in the first six months after passing their test according to the study. The analysis carr
  • IAM and Brake comment on increased UK road crashes
    September 24, 2015
    Both the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and road safety charity Brake have expressed serious concern over official figures showing increased road deaths in the UK. The Department of Transport’s Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2014 Annual Report says there were 1,775 reported road deaths in 2014, an increase of 4% compared with 2013. The IAM has called for a raft of measures to reverse the disappointing increase in numbers of people killed and injured on UK roads. It added the number of people
  • Safety improvements in developed nations
    August 20, 2013
    At a time when road safety is posing a significant threat to both human health and economic development around the world, it is worth noting that in many developed nations the situation is improving. The United Nations has identified road safety as a major problem and established its Decade of Action for Road Safety for the 2010-2020 period, in a bid to cut the growing death toll. But while developing nations are seeing a vast growth in vehicle numbers and road fatalities, the improving road safety situ
  • Concern over poor US road safety
    September 20, 2021
    There is growing concern over poor US road safety.