October 16, 2008

Highway fatalities - then and now

Some interesting numbers from The London Metro (the newspaper, not the 'tube'):
More died on roads 500 years ago
You may find it hard to believe, but a higher proportion of people died in traffic accidents in medieval times as they do now.

The only difference is that 500 years ago the big killers were being hit by a horse or falling off a farm wagon.

Take poor Joan Heyward, for example. In 1651 she was walking home in Chichester when a 'light grey nag' ridden very fast by Edward Short knocked her down – 'grievously beating, bruising and wounding her head and face'.

And an unfortunate Herbert Noke was travelling on an ox cart in 1577 when the animals broke free.

'The cart, with its wheels, ran violently down the hill and fell in pieces and Noke was injured by the cart and wheels whereby he immediately died.'

The realisation that we have only been treading water in the travel safety stakes emerged after a study of coroners' records in Sussex bet­ween 1485 and 1688.

It found 30 per cent of people who died from an injury were in a travel accident. By comparison, 25 per cent of injury deaths in 2000 were from road traffic incidents, World Health Organisation figures show.
Makes a lot of sense when you think about it -- vehicle safety is a key component in today's designs, unheard of 500 years ago. That plus signage, road conditions and emergency medical response. Posted by DaveH at October 16, 2008 8:08 AM | TrackBack
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