It is a measure of the times that we live in that it is the most difficult question to answer with one definite place. If I choose one, the chances are that within 24 hours there will be a mass shooting or a terrorist attack somewhere which will, for the media, become the most dangerous place on earth.
I thought hard about how to approach the problem and the solution appeared as though a miracle when I was on my back from a movie yesterday evening. I was almost run over by a car despite my having been standing on the pavement waiting for my car to come to pick me up. The vehicle lost control trying to avoid a two wheeler and mounted the pavement. The motorcyclist in turn was trying to avoid hitting a pedestrian suddenly darting across the road in front of him.
I decided then that the most dangerous place in the world today is simply our roads. I did some research and I was stunned to read that China and India are almost neck to neck in fatalities in sheer numbers but the entire world has more deaths arising out of traffic accidents than any other cause. QED.
And lest I forget or my readers forget that there is a world outside of our roads and there is a place near where I live which is unique, here is a news item from a local newspaper there.
Shackman has suggested today’s topic for the weekly 2 on 1 blog fest. Please check what he has to say on the same topic.
An interesting thought that the most dangerous place in the world is anywhere with lots of busy roads. We tend to overlook the danger as we seldom actually see a serious accident and it’s something that “happens to other people”.
It’s ironic that other British cities are probably now more dangerous than Belfast, which has become a very peaceful place after years of bloodshed.
nick recently posted..Don’t tell mum
It “happens to other people”? What a sheltered life you live, Nick.
May I say, without disturbing the peace, that the heading of your last post should have been, more realistically, “Don’t tell your father” (said by one’s mother).
U
Ursula recently posted..The Alternative Comment Box – Interval 2
Yes, I had heard from other sources also that NI today is among the safest places to live in.
There are many very, very dangerous places in the world — the Syrian oil fields were just that for the Russian mercenaries that attacked US supported rebels recently; as is the Damascus neighborhood that is being bombarded by Syrian and Russian forces.
Our traffic is quite tame and generally controlled compared to other places around the world, although a woman bystander waiting to cross the street was killed in a Little Rock, Arkansas collision last month.
Mike recently posted..Pine Beetles in Rocky Mountain National Park
I should rank our border with Pakistan among the most dangerous places on earth too Mike. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/tensions-soar-india-pakistan-border-kashmir-180119090342963.html
The world is a dangerous placve and nowhere is completely safe. For every day life I suspect y-ou are on to something thnough – there are way too many crazies on the road – any road.
Dangerous places can be defined only by degrees Shackman. I am told that there are more deaths from elders falling down in bathrooms than in bed!
That reminds me of France, where we didn’t always feel safe on the sidewalks either. We never drove there.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Quelle Surprise!
Actually a Johns Hopkins study says about 250,000 people in the U.S. die from medical errors every year: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/476636183/death-certificates-undercount-toll-of-medical-errors The number of deaths from automobile accidents in 2016 was about 40,200: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/business/highway-traffic-safety.html
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Quelle Surprise!
I think that all parts of our civilised world should qualify.
You “never drove there”, Cheerful Monk? Well, in that case, I am sure you’ll wonder how the French (and I) survive their roads. You haven’t lived, neither can you call yourself a driver, until you have negotiated London, Piccadilly Circle, on a Friday afternoon, Paris (with their many lanes on roundabouts), enjoyed a spot Italian driving (ravines will do, Rome; or you could do what my sister did which was fall in love with a policeman in Naples; one minute they were ravishing each other, the next she found herself in a car chase, shooters blazing.
Obviously, by all accounts, and no doubt explains Ramana’s unusual and rather original take on “the most dangerous place in the world”, Indian’s inner cities’ traffic is a different proposition altogether. I’d probably just go by helicopter.
U
Ursula recently posted..The Alternative Comment Box – Interval 2
If you ever come to India, instead of a helicopter, I will arrange for an elephant to ferry you around Ursula. The safest mode of transportation here.
I think that the most comfortable and comparable to India country in Europe is Italy. Drivers there drive just like we do here except that they are on the wrong side of the road!
This world is indeed a dangerous place, all it takes is for you to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our government is for ever implementing gun control aimed at law abiding licenced gun owners, but of course this does not stop criminals from getting & using guns. Somehow I can’t see them implementing vehicle control can you?
Keith.
Frankly no Keith. On the other hand, in India, there is strict control on the buying and selling and also possession of fire arms but they are easily available from underground sources. Neither is capable of being controlled by authority when vote bank politics is the deciding factor.
Great take, Ramana.
I’d say the most dangerous place in the world is life itself. From the moment of conception (if you were conceived at all) you are on a losing wicket.
U
Ursula recently posted..The Alternative Comment Box – Interval 2
Thank you. Life and death is a wrong phrase, it should be birth and death as only these two are opposites.
I am glad you were not injured!
Not as glad as I was Kaitlin. I almost had a heart attack there however!
one of those ‘close calls’ Rummy! you could have been killed while he was obviously trying to avoid killing himself or someone else. good grief.
we have people here who do almost everything but drive. phone talking and texting and applying their make up in the rear view mirror… you just have to hope they will look up in time to avoid an accident.
I think of danger not so much from terrorists as from Mother Nature.
as in this info from the National Weather Service.
we’re entering into our ‘tornado and severe storm season’ very soon.
From 1890-2015, at least 160 tornadoes were documented in the Oklahoma City metro area, an average of just over one each year. Since weak tornadoes were not always documented prior to 1950, this number is likely well underestimated, according to NWS.
Some other interesting facts from the NWS/SPC/Grazulis study:
13 violent tornadoes (F/EF4 or stronger), including May 19, 2013 in Shawnee and May 20, 2013 in Moore.
May is the peak month, followed by April and June. About two-thirds of all metro tornadoes have occurred in those months.
Mid-afternoon through early evening is the most frequent time of day.
Through 2015, the OKC metro experienced two or more tornadoes on the same day 27 separate times.
Only three periods since 1950 had over a two-year lapse between tornadoes.
it’s pretty much just a fact of life living here. a friend of mine who lives in Moore had her home blown away 3 different times. they pay high insurance rates of course. and you might say “why don’t they move?” because every place has its own dangers… from earth quakes to wildfires to floods to hurricanes! at least you know the snake in your own back yard I guess.
I’m so very glad you weren’t killed or seriously injured Rummy. and you so easily could have been.
you have much living to do yet! SH
tammy j recently posted..the sleeping zombi
We Indians inevitably end our prayers with Om! Shanti, Shanti, Shanti hi. Shanti means peace. We say it three times to invoke peace and protection against three dangers called the aapat thraya. (Three Dangers.) Adi Daivika, Adi Bhautika and Adyatmika. Acts of God, Natural calamities and self created problems. I had half a mind to write on this part of ritual but did not consiering the esoteric nature of the ending.