If you read the Road Commission for Oakland County web site you’d see their claim that the county has “the safest roads in the world.”
They’re wrong.
To jump to this conclusion, they divided the number of fatalities by 100 million vehicle miles traveled. The more miles driven on the expressways, the safer the rest of the roads look.
And in 2008, 27% of all Oakland County road fatalities were pedestrians and cyclists. To divide those fatalities by the number of vehicle miles traveled is clearly invalid — and it reflects the low priority the Road Commission places on road users who are not inside a motor vehicle.
What the Road Commission should be reporting is the fatality rate based on the population size.
Here are the 2008 fatality rates per 100,000 people (based on 2008 SEMCOG population estimates):
- Oakland County 13
- Macomb County 13
- St. Clair County 18
- Wayne County 20
These are not world class when compared with other countries.
The U.K.’s Department for Transport’s recent report “A Safer Way: Consultation on Making Britain’s Roads the Safest in the World.” (via How We Drive) compiles road fatality rates for many countries (See the above chart).
Our county rates show we are among the least safe. Oakland and Macomb counties are only marginally better than the U.S. average, yet double the Canadian average.
We’re apparently neck and neck with Bulgaria.
Oakland County clearly does not have the safest roads.
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