Johannesburg – ranked 13th most dangerous city to drive in!
The World Resources Institute (WRI) conducted a study in order to find out which city is the most dangerous city to drive in – Johannesburg ranked 13th!
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According to this report, titled “Cities Safer By Design”, Johannesburg has been named as the 13th most dangerous city in the world to drive in. The goal of this study is to propose strategies that cities can adopt in order to reduce the number of traffic fatalities.
The WRI data shows that the Brazilian city of Fortaleza is the most dangerous city in the world. Traffic deaths averaging at 27.2 per 100,000 of the population. There’s a definite trend towards Brazil’s cities having very dangerous roads. Out of the top 20 on the list, 9 are from Brazil!
Chennai, India comes in at second with 26.6 deaths per 100 000, followed by Guadalajara, Mexico. Johannesburg is the only South African city to make the list, with 15 deaths per 100,000. Although Kenya takes the top African spot, with Nairobi at number 9.
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The report also illustrates that high population density alone doesn’t necessarily relate to high volumes of traffic accidents or fatalities. New York, known for its busy roads has a fairly low fatality rate. Making it about 5 times more dangerous to drive around Johannesburg, compared to New York!
South Africa has already taken steps to improve road safety through latter most method, having proposed new, reduced speed limits. The government wants to reduce the general speed limit from 60km/h to 40km/h on every public road, or section thereof, situated within an urban area.
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However, the WRI acknowledge that there are problems with the study, due to the reliability of the sources – when it comes to each city or country reporting its data. Even so, it does more than likely provide the best overview available.
Source: Businesstech