The official statistics for the year-end death toll on Myanmar’s roads are in, and surprise surprise, they are way up.
4,233 people were killed in traffic accidents nationwide in 2015, compared to 2,811 in 2011, the same year the government relaxed vehicle import regulations, making Yangon’s traffic, on a bad day, rival Bangkok’s.
Since then, the death rate has risen by a couple hundred annually, though things have started to even out.
The new statistics, reported in The Global New Light of Myanmar and attributed to a “police source” (we could not independently verify the stats) represent only a slight uptick from 2014, which registered 4,163 fatalities.
So in less than five years, the death toll on the road appears to have nearly doubled. An average of 11 people die every day in traffic accidents.
Something to think about – or not – the next time you get in a taxi.
