The danger of driving overseas

photo by Dan Chui

According to the US State Department, motor vehicle crashes are the number 1 killer of healthy Americans abroad. While many people take precautions before they leave the country, such as getting vaccines and immunizations, they often over look the road safety issue at their visiting countries.

Driving on the opposite side of the road can be confusing, and dangerous. Besides that, people get tired when they traveled long distance, or after a long flight. So why put yourself at risk? Even if you're not driving, you still need to be careful as a pedestrians.

How do you protect yourself while traveling? The Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT) developed Road Travel Reports that detail road conditions, dangerous highways to avoid, driver behaviour and police enforcement for more than 150 countries.

Besides that, the Department of State has country specific traffic safety and road condition information, updated about twice a year and accessed through a pull-down list.

Rule of tumb: know where you're going and be safed! full story