Myanmar’s growing road safety problem

Myanmar has a growing road safety problem, an issue becoming apparent as its economy gradually improves. The gain in prosperity in the country has seen a growth in vehicle numbers from 4 million in 2013 to 6 million in 2016. Small capacity motorcycles are becoming particularly popular, as in many of Myanmar’s neighbouring Asian nations. There were 17,834 reported vehicle crashes in Myanmar during 2016, 8,641 of which involved motorcycles. There were 4,887 road deaths in 2016, of which 2,093 were motorcyclis
May 12, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Myanmar has a growing road safety problem, an issue becoming apparent as its economy gradually improves. The gain in prosperity in the country has seen a growth in vehicle numbers from 4 million in 2013 to 6 million in 2016. Small capacity motorcycles are becoming particularly popular, as in many of Myanmar’s neighbouring Asian nations. There were 17,834 reported vehicle crashes in Myanmar during 2016, 8,641 of which involved motorcycles. There were 4,887 road deaths in 2016, of which 2,093 were motorcyclists. Of the country’s traffic fatalities, 48% were riding motorcycles.


But following on from the road safety lead in Asia being set by Vietnam, Myanmar is now looking to increase use of helmets amongst motorcyclists. Since Vietnam made helmet use mandatory for motorcycle riders, there has been a corresponding drop in the overall road fatality rate, showing how basic safety measures can have significant benefits. Myanmar’s National Road Safety Council is asking the Commerce Ministry to require two helmets to be sold with every new motorcycle.

Related Content

  • Road causalities dropped in Europe in 2012
    March 26, 2013
    The latest data from the European Commission reveals that road fatalities across the EU decreased by 9% in 2012. This shows that 2012 saw the lowest numbers of people being killed in road traffic crashes in EU countries since data first began being collated. Vice-president Siim Kallas, Commissioner for Transport, said, "2012 was a landmark year for European road safety, with the lowest ever number of road deaths recorded. A 9% decrease means that 3,000 lives were saved last year. It is hugely encouraging to
    Read More
  • Highways: environmental problem or environmental enhancement?
    March 21, 2016
    Highways need not be a blight on the countryside that many people, urban planners included, believe they will always be. By Bram Miller, director, and Martin Broderick, environmental consultant, at Ramboll Environ While the world’s highway networks bring undoubted economic and social benefits, they are generally perceived to lead to negative environmental impacts. Some may consider this an unfair reputation, but it is difficult to argue that in the majority of cases both the construction and operation of
    Read More
  • UK road deaths increasing for 2016
    November 3, 2016
    Worrying figures have been revealed regarding the UK’s road casualty rate for the last 12 months year ending on June 2016. There were 1,800 reported road fatalities during this period, a 2% increase from the 1,770 recorded for the previous year. However, this increase may come from a combination of factors that have come about by chance, rather than any specific change. The killed or seriously injured casualties (KSIs) increased by 3% to 24,620 compared with the year ending June 2015. This change is s
    Read More
  • Europe’s traffic pollution problem causes concern
    December 3, 2012
    The latest data available suggests that traffic pollution is still harmful to health in many parts of Europe. Transport in Europe is responsible for damaging levels of air pollutants and a quarter of EU greenhouse gas emissions. Many of the resulting environmental problems can be addressed by stepping up efforts to meet new EU targets, according to the latest report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). The EEA’s annual report under the Transport and Environment Reporting Mechanism (TERM) assesses the
    Read More

Highlighted Content