emesde

I guess it depends what you class as Europe and which stats you are using . Maybe your 9.3 figure includes Russia and Balkan States The European Commission figures issued from Brussels for 2017 road fatalities quote 49 deaths per million inhabitants (ie 4.9 per 100,000 if you prefer) for all EU countries There is no country listed there in Western Europe (Which is the area I always try to quote) that is worse than the IOM The figures are made worse by Eastern European countries -------- Bulgaria 9.6 per 100,000 :Croatia 8.0 per 100,000 : Lithuania 6.7 per 100,000 and Pol;and at 7.5 per 100,000 As part of their strategy they say the plan is to have cut road deaths by 50 % in the period from 2010 to 2020 . They are slightly behind their targets and so making extra efforts for the next 2 years to get back on track . There are 28 countries listed in this report so gives a pretty comprehensive and up to date picture. It also states that 8 % of deaths were on Motorways .37% on Urban Roads and 55% on Rural roads .

Fair enough if you think a road safety strategy is not needed so be it . The only point I was making was that for a Government spokesman to say that our roads are safe and figures skewed by motor sports is total nonsense as every area has unique differences and quoted the 20 million visitors to Cornwall as an example off uniqueness . I have not been able to get Cornwall's figures in isolation but the figures from Devon and Cornwall Police show that in the last 12 months there have been 68 deaths and I believe the population of Devon and Cornwall to be around 1-5 million people (Plus 20 million visitors) So I would say that they do have a much better success than The Isle of Man and that their strategy is working .

The number of vehicles registered doesn't mean a lot other than a high ownership per capita . There will be collections of vintage bikes , vehicles currently off road , I would imagine retention plates not even on a vehicle . And someone with 10 cars can only drive one at a time so number of driving licences would give a more accurate picture . But none of that information is necessary to start formulating a Safety strategy it would merely delay taking action for even longer. and I'm sure no one would want that .

It would seem that there are a similar number of accidents year on year yet the fatality rate has decreased by about 25 -30 %. I think we should give a huge THANK YOU to the car manufacturers who have kept their research and development into safer vehicles constantly updated and I think we are all amazed on occasions when we see write off crashes that the occupants have walked away from with minimal injuries.

Absolutely correct . Its great if there has been a reduction in fatalities in the last few years as it was consistently averaging around 10 per annum for many years .For anyone to make the assumption that this makes our roads safe is nonsense when we are still the worst in Western Europe. To say that the figures are skewed by motorsports is just crazy, Everywhere has some unique aspects but that is not a reason to do nothing . Someone quoted Cornwall as being close to IOM in many ways . BUT they have around 20 million visitors a year ,mainly travelling by car (4 million staying visitors and 15 million day visitors ) yet they have a strategy and a much lower fatality rate than the Island .

Couldn't agree with you more , but this Government crew will do anything to not change the current position in any meaningful way. At the same time in February " Bill Henderson MLC called for road safety ’hot spots’ to be identified and remarked that jumping red lights had become ’quite popular these days " It's sad really that this is what they think of as helping to produce a road safety strategy .They will say anything to distract from the bigger issues and spend a fortune doing nothing.

IN February 2018 Mr Malarkey promised that a Strategy would be published later this year ,It was reported in the local press in February and the same article carried this information from him ." ""In response to a Tynwald question last month, Mr Malarkey admitted he could not provide a ’meaningful’ rate for the number of people killed or seriously injured in accidents in the Isle of Man, to compare with other jurisdictions. He said there were issues with data collection and complications over the common definition of ’serious injury’ and the follow-up of injuries after a victim attended hospital."" The whole thing smacks of we don't actually intend doing anything , but we'll spend a fortune on meaningless consultations and delaying everything and hope we can then blame Brexit.

Does this convention mean that IOM driving licences will not be valid in the EU. And that we will have to use an international Driving Permit to drive in Europe?

German Autobahns work very well. They are mostly 2 lane and most now carry an advisory speed limit . Oh and the fatality rate is approx 3.8 deaths per billion kilometers compared with 2.0 per billion in the UK . Just about double the UK death rate.

I understood that IOM courts could not endorse a foreign (including UK) license. And similarly UK courts could not endorse a Manx one. Has this situation now changed?

Have to agree on this ,except that the death rate has been fairly constant around 10 per year for some time .The real difference is that other countries see it as a responsible thing to do to take appropriate action to take the necessary steps to improve roads, driving standards, condition of cars , etc etc . Here they just say our Island is unique and do nothing. The Zero fatality rate would be wonderful and as you say the one we should all be working towards. However a lot of attitudes need to be changed first . I don't think that the TT is the issue . It is the other 50 weeks of the year that are the problem .

Sorry Derek It's no good quoting Portugal,..... as yes they did have a problem ,but it seems they took positive action and have cut their figures dramatically as the same European report highlights . In fact every other European country has made positive inroads (Even the French cut their rural speed limits earlier this year in an attempt to reduce death rates.) "Significant long-term downward trends Over a long time period, a clear downward trend can be observed in all Member States except Malta. In particular, the number of road traffic victims has been cut by two-thirds or more in Portugal (from 2 730 in 1996 to 563 in 2016, or -79.4%), Latvia (-73.4%), Lithuania (-71.8%), Spain (-67.0%), Greece (-66.7%) and Slovenia (-66.6%). Overall in the EU, the number of road traffic victims more than halved (-57.4%) between 1996 and 2016."

Based on the latest available full stats for Europe for death rates / population from Motor accidents, the Isle of Man would come last ,just worse than Bulgaria. Let's hope that we take the opportunity to address the real issues and start to change this situation dramatically . Maybe significant measures could be announced in November to coincide with the Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims day This news item, largely based on data extracted from the European Commission CARE database, marks the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, commemorated on the third Sunday of November each year.

Bloody dangerous !! "Cycling in the Netherlands can be fun, but in 2017, for the first time ever, more cyclists were involved in fatal accidents than motorists. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), 613 people were killed in traffic accidents in 2017, 206 of these were cyclists, whilst 201 were motorists in passenger cars."

Apoligies Max, I had it in mind that you were against a limit on the “Mountain road”. . I agree entirely that accidents happen regardless of limits, but all research shows that reducing limits does reduce both the number and the severity of accidents.