This chart, to me, documents the charge of Taiwan from a developing country to a developed country. From 1981 to 2007, stroke is replaced as the major killer by cancer. Cancer is probably the leading cause of death in all developed countries.
Accidents go down and lifestyle/environmental diseases go up.
My personal time in Tainan leads me to think that accidents are a major killer but the stats prove me wrong. And the accident mortality rate is actually down! One data point(my experience) doesn't determine a trend.
Taiwan has a large fishing industry, fishing has always been a dangerous profession. That's why there are so many drowning/submersions in the stats below.
The next 3 tables are from a report by Professor Cheng-Min Feng at National Chiao-Tung University in HsinChu.
As this table below shows, as the number of vehicles increased the number of fatalities decreased, so you might argue that drivers are becoming better. (No, I wouldn't go that far.) Accidents and injures go up with the number of cars, why do fatalities go down?
Helmet laws, better Emergency Response, more mass transit, ... It's hard to say.
I like the stats that most causes are the driver. Duh!
So what form a transportation is safest. The injury rate for motorcyclist is staggering compared to the number of accidents. "Momma don't let your babies growup to be motorcyclists."
But of course it is exact the young, the new drivers that ride motorcycles and they are the ones die early. As seen in the table below.
1 comment:
Mike, your statistics are sobering. Will we all die of cancer? My parents both did, of course my dad was 89 at the time and lived a full life. I also have strong reservations about motorcycles. My first job as a psychologist was at Harborview, where I sometimes gave psychological tests to crash victims. I'll never forget the young man I tested who said his motorcycle crash changed his whole life, and not for the better. Skateboard accidents are also hard on brains.
We don't see that many motorcycles in Tucson. However, bicycling is quite popular--and dangerous. There aren't always separate bike paths and we hear about tragic accidents now and then. By the way, Lance Armstrong is here training. He apparently rides in a group, so should stay safe.
I hope you continue to stay safe in Tainan!
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