Myanmar’s poor road safety – cause for concern

Myanmar’s road safety remains a serious cause for concern. Some improvements have been seen in recent times, but more work needs to be done. There were 74,442 road crashes in Myanmar between the start of 2013 and August 2017. These resulted in 122,520 serious injuries and 28,502 fatalities according to data from the Myanmar Police Force. From January to August 2017, there were 12,250 crashes and 3,556 road fatalities, with 49% of the crashes involving motorcycles.
October 13, 2017 Read time: 1 min

Myanmar’s road safety remains a serious cause for concern. Some improvements have been seen in recent times, but more work needs to be done. There were 74,442 road crashes in Myanmar between the start of 2013 and August 2017. These resulted in 122,520 serious injuries and 28,502 fatalities according to data from the Myanmar Police Force. From January to August 2017, there were 12,250 crashes and 3,556 road fatalities, with 49% of the crashes involving motorcycles. The number of vehicles using Myanmar’s road network has increased following the relaxation of import duties in 2011. Overall, the ratio of fatalities from crashes to vehicle numbers has at least seen an improvement. However the country intends to lower road deaths further, having set a target of cutting fatalities by 50% for 2020, compared with the figures for 2014.

Related Content

  • Little change in safety for Myanmar’s roads
    November 8, 2019
    There has been little change in road safety standards in Myanmar, despite recent efforts by the authorities. There has been a drop in overall crashes to 12,084 for the first nine months of 2019, compared with 12,979 for the same period in 2018. Serious injuries have also fallen during this period to 18,596 compared with 20,089 for the previous year. However of serious concern is that road deaths have increased to 3,930 for the first nine months of 2019, compared with 3,834 for the same period in 2018. Thi
    Read More
  • 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
    Read More
  • Road safety challenge for Europe
    December 3, 2012
    Europe’s road safety drive is highlighting key issues - Mike Woof reports In Europe there is a growing understanding that alcohol use amongst drivers still has to be tackled effectively. Accident data reveals that safety standards are improving across most European countries, with steady reductions in numbers of serious injuries and fatalities. But there remains a problem with alcohol use amongst many drivers and it is amongst this group that accident levels have not fallen. In Spain in particular, there ha
    Read More
  • New data shows continued fall in KSI figures on UK roads
    June 27, 2013
    The UK’s road safety is improving according to the latest set of official statistics. According to the Department for Transport (DfT) figures, 1,754 people were killed on the UK’s roads in 2012, a drop of 8% from the figure for 2011 and the lowest level since national records commenced in 1926. Meanwhile 23,039 people suffered serious injuries in road crashes, 0.4% lower than the 23,122 in 2011 but 15% lower than the average for the 2005-2009 period. The number of child casualties fell 17% to 17,251 compare
    Read More

Highlighted Content