this video really explains nothing... "use seatbelts and drive on the side of the road that makes sense" im pretty sure most developed countries have those same systems in place
They only mentioned other things very briefly what Sweden did for improving safety - they started the safety agency that improved safety in a number of areas, such as making laws for mandatory wearing helmets on bicycle/mopeds, improving road building in such ways that motor vehicles are separated from pedestrians etc... But the main thing is that always safety comes first - no matter what. Safety before convenience.
Where I live many people still have not figured out that the left lane is for passing, turns must be made into the nearest lane instead of a wide arc, and a 'Stop' sign does not mean 'lightly tap brake'...
So building the roads at a slight inclination so people don't pass out and steer I to traffic has caused fatalities to be among the lowest in the world? I can't imagine that many deaths are due to that cause. Not to mention in North America a lot of roads are already inclined due to wear and the ground settling.
@@kaydim5921 RE: Your Sweden road safety discussion from 3 years ago. I think the Swedish have very different attitudes than Americans about many things. Unfortunately, you can't legislate attitude...Ultimately, it falls to each of us to monitor what we do on the roads. I see, and I'm sure you do as well, way too many people who drive like theirs is the only car on the road. Safe driving!
US has more accidents, but why is that compared to Sweden. It didn't really answer this question. Also I don't think it really answered the question stated in the title either. It just showed changes, but what specifically in the later years has changed? There are people driving and texting and the us has a higher fatal rate on the roads with vehicles so how has Sweden dealt with this. I feel like there are so many questions still unanswered.
The US is different in many ways. First,y its ridiculously easy to get a licence, poor drivers are easy to come across which won’t know what every road sign means or the rules of the road unlike here in Europe where you have yo learn the whole Highway Code and check every mirror and driver perfectly or get failed. Secondly Americans don’t even understand the basics of lane discipline, compare a motorway to a highway where Americans think they can drive in any lane with no reason when they are meant for overtaking (not undertaking in the first lane) and finally Americans tend to drive autos so it’s pretty easy to drive with very little concentration. Obviously there are other factors but these are some which I think help play a part
House Stark I have been there and seen for myself and have asked many what it takes to get a licence. Clearly pretty easy. Here it takes months and bear in mind we have difficult roads to drive on. Narrow country roads, roundabouts etc. Not exactly pip squeak traffic light controlled mass junctions like over the pond and lanes wide enough for trucks. Believe it or not we actually have to slow down and give way to cars on the opposite side of the road. Mind blown!
On topic: Getting a driver's license is quite a hassle (due to the extensiveness of the tests and required training, such as getting to try out driving in icy conditions), and is not at all required for living in urban areas. The negative aspect is that getting a license in Sweden can be really expensive - around 2000-2500 USD is quite normal for administrative fees, literature, and a few classes. Compare that to American suburbs where a car is an absolute necessity and you can get a license incredibly easily and cheaply. I have a Texas drivers license, as well as a Swedish one, and boy were they different. I didn't even realize I was doing the actual theoretical exam for the American one after the third day of driving ed. I laughed so hard when all of society completely shut down when there was a tiny bit of ice on the roads for a couple of days - people were legit posting on Facebook about how they were running out of food at home, and couldn't drive to Walmart (granted, it wouldn't be a good idea to drive without proper tires or training, but it was absolutely ridiculous - at least walk to the store..?). Regarding "Swedistan" comments: For anyone reading the comments and seeing all the "Swedistan" comments - don't listen to them, coming from a well traveled Swede. Every single person I've talked to that holds the same views seems to get it from comment sections, cherry picking of data (often ignoring differences in how it is collected), and quoting news from far right news sites. In general, Swedish media simply talks about any cases that happen, and there isn't as much stigma towards for example rape victims and working hard for progressive reforms by pointing out any injustice. There are people (often far right supporters) who avoid even going on the metro towards the so called "no go zones" (most of whom have never been there in the first place) - but they're really quite nice compared to most neighborhoods around the world. The infamous car burnings were a couple of isolated incidents made by a group of 30ish youths, from what I've heard. I took an American friend to visit Akalla, and he thought it was a joke that this was a "bad" part of town. And yes, socioeconomically, poorer areas are more prone to illegal activities and pent up aggression (or psychological effects from what immigrants may have been through), and I can admit that refugee integration is far from perfect. For one, finding accommodation or jobs, if you are allowed to seek employment while waiting for political asylum, can be really hard, especially without money or contacts. There are predominantly immigrants living in those areas, but Microsoft, Ericsson, and other big tech companies also host their HQs nearby in Kista due to the cheaper real estate with good highway communication. It is NOT a war zone. Fear can make people behave strangely. Another often mentioned problem is the amount of beggars on the streets, an influx mainly from Romania and Bulgaria (due to free movement within the EU). A Romanian friend is very suspicious of them, and has heard things being said between them that suggests that the begging is organized, but I've seen very few actual problems (although I can't vouch for how the beggars are treated by their supposed "pimp"). I believe the problem is mainly that the average Swede isn't accustomed to seeing that kind of poverty, and that begging was pretty much non-existent 10 years ago. This is purely anecdotal evidence; but the worst crime I've been exposed to personally was a girl who stole my phone charger on the train (cuz I let her borrow it), after which I moved to another part of the carriage. Then she even came up and tried to pay me cuz she felt bad - to which I declined. I've heard of worse, but can't bring to mind any specific examples of stuff that's happened to any of my friends. I think Tokyo is the only other place I've felt as safe as in as Stockholm. Even when visiting one of the world's poorest countries in the world, where my white skin really stood out - and I almost got mugged - I almost exclusively felt a tremendous amount of warmth from the locals. Much less so than what I've experienced from ethnically Swedish trash (once again, I am Swedish myself, but well traveled).
I think another huge factor is our driver's education. It features A LOT of focus on road safety, including a mandatory course on alcohol/drugs, how sleep affects driving, how potential damage increases exponentially with speed.
What people don't realise is the fact that Norway and Sweden are immense (I'm speaking of area here) and have small populations. Hence, you will have far less cars on the roads further away from the big cities, so the probability of a car crash is lower there, leading to less people dying in car related accidents. You will never see these kind of numbers in countries like the U.K. or Germany due to the simple fact that the population density is higher.
Generally traffic fatalities are actually much higher in areas where traffic volumes are low, this is due to the fact that people are more careful and drive significantly slower in urban areas, expecting things to be more dangerous (as they would be if you drove the same way in an urban area as in a rural area). Rural roads are also generally in somewhat worse shape at an average and have less signs, barriers and planning involved than in urban areas. However, per capita road fatalities are actually comparable to Sweden in Britain.
Sure, people are less careful on country roads, but you cannot deny the fact that areas with high traffic will lead to more accidents. Take the German autobahn for example. The number of traffic stops each day due to some incident are quite high. Choosing not to respect the road rules has nothing to do with how many cars are on the road. You also mentioned that the UK has comparable per capita fatalities. That shows how clickbait this video actually is. Everything mentioned in here about the so-called Swedish solution to road safety is something that every country does - lower speed limit inside and outside cities, seatbelt laws etc. So why not use Britain as an example? It is clearly more impressive in a country with higher population density. Also, the roads aren't really that safe here in Sweden. The amount of people that veer left or right or people who stay in the outside lane on the highway way below speed limit because they are texting is insane. Not to mention other common traffic laws that people simply choose not to respect.
It's not the same. Because norwegians often use Swedish roads when going on long trips, Norwegian district roads is a disaster compared with swedish roads, and cars are about 40% more expensive in Norway. You see more old cars in Norway than Sweden. This summer I used my car for vacation. I had about 2hours on Norwegian roads and 20hours on finnish and swedish roads.
Mostly correct, except "nollvisonen" (vision zero)isn´t about zero deaths, it´s rather about zero deaths and zero serious injuries, i.e. the kind of injuries crippling people
well zero accidents would be the best, but an accident where there are only mild or no injuries doesn´t really affect the traffic of the society as much as deaths or severe injuries
Perhaps they also should have mentioned drunk driving. In In 1990 the alcohol limit was lowered from 0.5 per mille, to 0.2. In many other countries (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, China, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Germany) it's still 0.5 and in some, like the US for instance, it's 0.8. 30 % of the people involved in traffic accidents are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, 90 % of them are men. So the numbers could be way lower if we got the drunk drivers off the roads.
Lowering the limit at which you can be charged with DUI doesn't stop a drunken person from entering and operating a vehicle. I would argue that if someone was driving drunk and caused a traffic accident, they likely weren't stopped by the police at any point during their ride. It's good that the alcohol limit was lowered for sure, but I can't see it being a very significant reason for the low traffic accident rate.
0:55 I remember when my dad told me about that. He was sitting in the car as a kid and the government had decided a time when everyone on the road was gonna stay still for 20 minutes or something like that before changing side and then staying 20 more minutes before starting to drive again to not create any confusion if someones clock wasn't running correctly.
Great video, but horrible way to come to conclude. 2:55 "there's no trade-off -- safety is always priority" Okay then, why don't they just ban cars all together? Instant way to get 0 traffic fatalities.
a government that cares about the people and makes significant changes. what a wonderful place.... I actually started tearing up at the end of the video.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa, Sweden is being Islamized because the people want it? Stockholm-syndrome at its worst, that is what is happening. @ Gabriel Sander, Judging by your name you are religious fanatic who doesn't have a clue what Nazi's are.
I am born in former yugoslav repuplic but raised in sweden. For living iam driving truck. I can explain how the swedish people are in traffic. Number one they drive slowly. And number two when they are in traffic they are never in a rush and voila most safe roads in the world.
Never in a rush my ass, whenever I drive in and around Stockholm I may or may not drive 10kmh over the speed limit and people are overtaking from left and right.
@ekim andersom No. American rural counties have a lot of space with low population, yet their fatality rates are even higher than the US average and much much higher than Sweden.
I'm one of those people who was saved from serious injury or death by wearing a 3-point seatbelt way back in 1978, when virtually nobody wore them since this wasn't yet required by law.
Such a poor journalism from Bloomberg ... I watched the video because it's from Bloomberg But it didn't provide full reason on switching left to right driving.. and how it effects.. just put some statistics and clamming success of Sweden as because of Rich not because of it's accurate policy and implementation of such policy... which is kinda textbook example of yellow journalism..
Great video but could've gone more in depth about all the regulations Sweden has and how strict tests you have to pass to get a license. I guess most countries don't include "wet practice" during your licence test.
The video makes out that driving on the right-hand side of the road is inherently safer and that is not true at all. You spent over half the video explaining nothing about road safety.
I heard that Australia is going to switch over also. But being Australians..they are taking it in stages. They're going to allow trucks to change over first for two weeks for them to get use to it.
Yes, det är så najs att kolla på videor där de pratar bra om Sverige! Det gör mer stolt! :D (Yes, it’s so nice to watch videos were they talk about what’s good about Sweden! It makes me proud!)
In Portugal too (execpt when there are some corruption) but you can fail on your drivers test quite easily... That clearly has nothing to do with that. I don't doo half the things I learned at drivers school.
Most children are also rearfacing until at least 4 years old! Rearfacing longer is one of the things that could help save thousands of children in traffic accidents.
0:36 - Notice that traffic is still on the left in this black & white film, even though the street markings have been changed to the right in anticipation of the switch.
I think that one big thing is that the left lane is only for passing in Sweden. No one uses the left lane for anything other than that unless the driver is a tourist. When I visited the US it was a mess, everyone was overtaking everyone from anywhere. It felt very unsafe. It was the same way in Spain
Mattie after a while the decline started yes, but that had nothing to do with the change to right-side traffic. Because humans are more right-eye dominant it makes us better at driving on the left side for whatever reason.
Still, it makes no sense to drive on the left side with a left steered car. I drive a right steered car for work in Sweden and I have to be really careful cuz I have very little vision on my left side when turning right for example.
NeeyatiSharma333059 yeah everything they explained is pretty much standard in most countries. I'm pretty sure the seatbelt and just newer cars with airbags were the reasons.
My grandma and granda had just gotten their license the year the change from left to right traffic happend, needless to say they've told me loads of times how confusing it was, and how scary it was to meet someone who hadn't really understood the change driving on the wrong side of the road
So that would have killed my boss when he had to bail of his bike to avoid going under a lorry... came away with a broken leg instead of being crushed to a pulp like the bike was.... Dumbest idea I have ever heard.
Nathan G I think there is misunderstanding here. If I got it right the legislation would require for airbags. And the wrong assumption here is IF airbag THEN seatbelt. The airbag proposed however are in the helmet, they are basically protecting your neck and making it harder to snap on impact. There is no seatbelt involved. However there is a law on the book that requires you to wear a seatbelt if the vehicle has one installed so technically if a motorcycle company would install them you would have to wear them, however as you said that would be counter to safety.
You should make a video on how Austria changed from driving on the left to driving on the right. We surely made it as complex as possible, switching state by state by state over a time-frame of several years in the 30s
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Links-_und_Rechtsverkehr#/media/File:Driving_standards_historic.svg Hier, alles was grün, bzw. orange eingefärbt ist hatte mal Linksverkehr, zumindestens nach 1858.
Really, America could have free healthcare, good schools and roads, end all homelessness in the country, etc, but instead we spend billions on the military. I guess killing other people is more important than saving yourself here.
great video, but i wished the video elaborate more on present day traffic management, and comparison to road safety and number of accidents in other wealthy countries.
The thing they missed is that they're making it more and more expensive to take the license. "You have to take this course", it takes 3 hours and cost you like 100$. That's only for one of the courses... Don't get me started with the bikes...
I live in Stockholm, Sweden, and I would happily give up some safety for more convenience, . Here 4-lane highways are 70 or even 50 km/h, while most other countries have 100+ km/h in similar roads.
Filip Starberg Are you high? "Slower is actually faster?!" Time enroute equals distance divided by average speed. Thus, a higher speed limit will get you where you're going proportionately faster...assuming you obey the law, that is. (Excepting some odd "corner cases" like gridlocked traffic, which don't often apply to cross-country driving...if you're hitting rush hour traffic, take a different route or leave at a different time.)
bcubed72 try and back off from your dear physics law, going slower means homogeneity in traffic flow => less likelihood of accidents => reduced traffic jams www.wri.org/blog/2017/05/need-safe-speed-4-surprising-ways-slower-driving-creates-better-cities
bcubed72 That only holds true if the distance travelled is smaller then your tank lasts. Depending on the car the ideal fuel economy in modern cars is somewhere between 70 km/h (43 mph) and 100 km/h (62 mph) _[more precisely the RPM in the highest gear somewhere 3200-3800 if I remember right]._ Anything outside these values comes with a disproportionate consumptions penalty. So take 33mpg (≈7l/100km) and a 12-2 gallon (45-7.5l) tank (15% is emergency reserves) on NYC→Washinton D.C. 230 miles (370km). 🔵So 230/33≈7gal so I arrive with 5-2=3gal in the tank and regular speed after 3h40m at 62mph in DC. 🔴Let's assume a speed with penalty of 30% we are driving night 'illegally' 5+ limit so 70 mph (110kmh) so 20mpg (≈11.8l/100km) meaning 30miles before DC you pull out in Maryland and pump your own gas (f*ck jersey) and 20 min later you're on the road again. So 230/70 ≈ 3h20m + 20m = 3h40m. Result: no time saved and money lost. And the longer the distance the wider the gap (avg.). The spcefic can vary but you get the overall principle. I personally though prefer a coffee break ^^
Recentely moved to Norway from Sweden and here they have lower speed limits, I’ve rarely driven faster than 80 here while in Sweden roads with speed up to 110-120 is a lot more common. Speeding tickets cost a lot also.
Huh? You're talking about the country that perhaps takes rape the most seriously? What are you talking about? Stuff that are considered rape in Sweden is legal in most of the world ffs
Orppranator To have alot of rape cases in the statistics isnt really the same as having alot of rapes. It only means more rapes get reported and that we have a wider spectrum of What is considered a rape.
One thing they didn't mention in the video is that out age limit for getting your drivers license is 18 years, and from what I understand, it is much harder to get it here compared to, for example, the US. You have to pass both a theoretical test as well as a drivning test. And before this, you have to compleate courses where they you test driving on very slippery roads, and they teach you what to do if you lose grip on the road. Many people also take many lessons in driving. Maybe this is one reason the mortality is so low, new drivers are more prepared before they drive on their own?
My father was 7 years old when it happend, I love listening to the stories about that day, the change and how people reacted. Road saftey is taught very realy in our country, I remember getting instructions on how to cross, the rules of helmets when you are on a bike, speed limits and what lane to use on the sidewalk to not interfere with cyclists.
pretty sureNorway drove on the right side before the swedes, i remember my grandad telling stories about how they had to switch to the other side of the road when crossing from Norway to sweden.
Interesting story: The Swedish people voted on this and voted against the change. The government implemented the change despite the people's say in the matter and it was obviously for the better.
Three things 1. Why didn't Sweden outlaw the importing of left-handed vehicles? 2. Why should an entire country's infrastructure be reveresed, for impatient people? 3. If people were willing to drive on the wrong side of the road, to bypass slower moving traffic, what made them obey slower speed limits?
Sweden also has "fences" on some of the biggest roads that are basicly long steel wires. They are very effective preventing sleepy drivers from crashing, but they also have an unfortunate nickname: Biker slicer. (Pretty neat that it sounds cool in English aswell!)
If driving on the left side of road was SO DANGEROUS, how come Britain and many other countries still drive and manage to live longer? Are you suggesting that driving on the left side of the road is absolutely unsafe?
We also have the highest amount of signs per viewing angle and a high amount of trafic cameras and as someone said below stop mean stop and the triangle means letting other cars drive. The book with all the regulation and signs are quiet thick.
I still do not see, what the lesson to be learned is. The point is: all of the european countries, usa, most of asia have implemented the same things. They use safety belts and all those other things and yet have higher rates. So instead of telling us what Sweden introduced what other countries also introduced, tell us what is different to most of comparable countries.
Thing is, over 90% of the drivers here is Sweden shouldn't and wouldn't have their driving licence, if they would have to do the tests again. Most don't know more than 4-5 traffic rules.
I'm a driver in a left driving country and I don't find overtaking cars difficult. You're thinking left driving is dangerous because you are assuming the driver seat is at the left. Cars are not the same across the world.
If you say we spend a lot of money on road infrastructure, I wonder how much the us does. Their roads are beautiful. A little complicated sometimes, but beautiful.
Although I'm sure that Sweden does a lot of good things in the name of road safety, the graph at around 2:24 doesn't prove much about its particular approach. The US saw a very similar and dramatic decline in traffic deaths over the same period.
A couple of points to add, compared to nations like US, its harder to get a license, we also have a rule that you cant overtake someone in the right lane, even if its free, always in the left lane, makes traffic somewhat more predictable. The typical lane switching you often see in US, to get in the faster lane isnt really a problem here, but we got less traffic so maybe we cant point to that as the main factor.
Bloomberg's video really gives you a dumbed down and oversimplified version of road safety in Sweden. First of all, number of deaths per capita is not a good measurement, better to look at number of deaths per mile traveled. Bloomberg's focus on the 1967 reform is also strange as the big drop in fatalities came many years later. Here are a few road safety factors to consider: Factors reducing the numbers: 1. Traffic density is low in Sweden. Most fatal accidents in Sweden actually only involve one car. If Sweden had the same population density as the Netherlands or the UK, I think accidents would increase, all other factors remaining the same. 2. Swedes drive large and safe cars, with Volkswagen and Volvo topping the charts year after year. Much safer than American brands. 3. It is relatively hard to get a driver's license in Sweden. 4. If you live in an urban area in Sweden, you don't need a car as public transport is usually decent. This means people who shouldn't drive, because of age, health issues, stress, fatigue etc have an alternative. 5. Speed limits are low in Sweden (compared to many European countries, not to the US) 6. Swedes are very safety minded. Helmet use among cyclist is high and (almost) everyone uses a seatbelt while travelling in a car, even in the backseat or in the city at low speeds. 7. Swedes drive relatively slowly, at least compared to German, French and Italian drivers. 8. Sweden allows spiked winter tires, very useful in icy conditions. 9. Swedish road design is very safety conscious. Lanes are wide, guard rails are good and many country roads have a 2+1 design. There are also thousands of miles of fencing to keep large animals off the roads. 10. Driving after alcohol consumption is frowned upon in Sweden and you can lose your license already after small quantities. Factors increasing the numbers: 1. Sweden is very dark, snowy and cold in the winter. This means reduced visibility and risk of slippery roads. 2. There are few marked police cars on the roads. 3. There are few speed cameras. 4. While penalty charges for speeding are quite high, the legal consequences of very reckless driving are rather understated. People who cause accidents while driving under the influence of narcotics or alcohol get very lenient sentences. 5. Until recently, there was no system in place to confiscate cars that were systematically uninsured or driven by license less drivers.
Poland, for instance, is surprisingly safe knowing the country's wealth and that the speed limits are among the highest in the world - 149 km/h is perfectly legal on a highway.
Having a low acceptable limit of blood alcohol content (0.02% compared to 0.08% in the UK and 0.05-0.08 % in the US) probably helps too. And that it´s manditory to have dubbed winter tires on during the winter. There are also a lot of moose accidents so putting up fences and building tunnels or bridges for them also probably have improved road safety. More people wearing helmets while riding a bike (manditory for children) probably also lowered the fatalities in traffic. Also, I think the hospitals have improved and is better than saving the lives of people involved in traffic accidents compared to the 1970s.
It would be horrible for us Norwegians to go shopping in Sweden if we had to change lines. I think its very good that we have the same system on the whole of the Scandinavian peninsula
Almost everything you said is implemented in many countries that have the same problem. You never showed why Sweden is an exception to the rest of the world
I dont think it had anything to do with changing from left to right hand drive. We saw the same drop in deaths in other countries after the introduction of seat belts and speed limits from around 1970, and they still drive on the same side of the road. Most countries that drive on the left side of the road have the steering wheel on the right so no problem overtaking. . Its unusual Sweden drove on the left with the steering wheel also on the left?. Thats weird, I've never heard that. How many countries did that?
Lower death rate when doubling the number of cars is not astonishing, but natural. The more cars you have, the less chances you have to express your individualistic approach to driving. You are forced to go with the flow.
I'm sorry, but I didn't learn anything from this. There's no information here you couldn't get by spending 30 sec on wikipedia. It doesn't answer "How Sweden Nailed Road Safety" at all, all it does is say they changed the side of the road, then started becoming focused on safety, and now it's safe. That's not answering any _how_ at all.
this video really explains nothing... "use seatbelts and drive on the side of the road that makes sense"
im pretty sure most developed countries have those same systems in place
They only mentioned other things very briefly what Sweden did for improving safety - they started the safety agency that improved safety in a number of areas, such as making laws for mandatory wearing helmets on bicycle/mopeds, improving road building in such ways that motor vehicles are separated from pedestrians etc... But the main thing is that always safety comes first - no matter what. Safety before convenience.
Its a rich country
AwesomeVindicator lol not the us
I thought that too this wasnt very informative
Not back in 1967 though - seat belts in the US did not catch on till much later
And then there is germany Gently whispering in your ear
"Go 300Km/h... Do it.... Do it...."
Macin toshiba tbh you can varely ever go over 200 for more than 5 minutes. the unlimited parts are realy small amd often jamed with traffic
A Fox noo in notthern Germany we have the a31 200+ km with no speed limit and the motorway is always empty
OMG SO TRUE 😂😂😂
I am german, and i can tell you that going 300 wont get you into accidents, but drunk driving and looking at your smartphone does
Joshua Lämmlin isso solange man selber und die anderern aufpassen und nicht abgelenkt sind geht das fit
Where I live many people still have not figured out that the left lane is for passing, turns must be made into the nearest lane instead of a wide arc, and a 'Stop' sign does not mean 'lightly tap brake'...
Where I live, many people still have not figured out that the RIGHT lane is for passing.
I think most drivers need to change country.
Asterio thanks for the laugh today!😂
Nos stopping fully is ok. The signs are redundant anyway.
Asterio what country do you live in I’m in America.
-Ah vilable- true, it's just a waste of time, but you have to fix that hair that got stuck on my screen from your avatar
I know swedish "skrattar du förlorar du"
Mannneeeeeeennnnnnnnnnn
Mannen!
PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDIEPAH
I know Swedish “ikea”
I am Swedish living in the America and this French kid come up to me and says this everyday XD
Dear Bloomberg, please do another video that explains exactly How Sweeden Nailed Road Safety, thank you.
Kay Dim Our roads are made with a angle of inclination to the right so if you fall asleep you dont swerve into the lane that you are going towards
So building the roads at a slight inclination so people don't pass out and steer I to traffic has caused fatalities to be among the lowest in the world? I can't imagine that many deaths are due to that cause. Not to mention in North America a lot of roads are already inclined due to wear and the ground settling.
😆
@@kaydim5921 RE: Your Sweden road safety discussion from 3 years ago. I think the Swedish have very different attitudes than Americans about many things. Unfortunately, you can't legislate attitude...Ultimately, it falls to each of us to monitor what we do on the roads. I see, and I'm sure you do as well, way too many people who drive like theirs is the only car on the road. Safe driving!
US has more accidents, but why is that compared to Sweden. It didn't really answer this question. Also I don't think it really answered the question stated in the title either. It just showed changes, but what specifically in the later years has changed? There are people driving and texting and the us has a higher fatal rate on the roads with vehicles so how has Sweden dealt with this.
I feel like there are so many questions still unanswered.
Kobe2408 drive slower, tighter laws, optimized roads and walkways. What else do you need?
They passed a law that made it illegal to drive and use your phone at the same time
rixterz If there was a school shooting in America every time I heard that it still wouldnt be as many ;^)
The US is different in many ways. First,y its ridiculously easy to get a licence, poor drivers are easy to come across which won’t know what every road sign means or the rules of the road unlike here in Europe where you have yo learn the whole Highway Code and check every mirror and driver perfectly or get failed. Secondly Americans don’t even understand the basics of lane discipline, compare a motorway to a highway where Americans think they can drive in any lane with no reason when they are meant for overtaking (not undertaking in the first lane) and finally Americans tend to drive autos so it’s pretty easy to drive with very little concentration. Obviously there are other factors but these are some which I think help play a part
House Stark I have been there and seen for myself and have asked many what it takes to get a licence. Clearly pretty easy. Here it takes months and bear in mind we have difficult roads to drive on. Narrow country roads, roundabouts etc. Not exactly pip squeak traffic light controlled mass junctions like over the pond and lanes wide enough for trucks. Believe it or not we actually have to slow down and give way to cars on the opposite side of the road. Mind blown!
On topic:
Getting a driver's license is quite a hassle (due to the extensiveness of the tests and required training, such as getting to try out driving in icy conditions), and is not at all required for living in urban areas. The negative aspect is that getting a license in Sweden can be really expensive - around 2000-2500 USD is quite normal for administrative fees, literature, and a few classes. Compare that to American suburbs where a car is an absolute necessity and you can get a license incredibly easily and cheaply. I have a Texas drivers license, as well as a Swedish one, and boy were they different. I didn't even realize I was doing the actual theoretical exam for the American one after the third day of driving ed. I laughed so hard when all of society completely shut down when there was a tiny bit of ice on the roads for a couple of days - people were legit posting on Facebook about how they were running out of food at home, and couldn't drive to Walmart (granted, it wouldn't be a good idea to drive without proper tires or training, but it was absolutely ridiculous - at least walk to the store..?).
Regarding "Swedistan" comments:
For anyone reading the comments and seeing all the "Swedistan" comments - don't listen to them, coming from a well traveled Swede. Every single person I've talked to that holds the same views seems to get it from comment sections, cherry picking of data (often ignoring differences in how it is collected), and quoting news from far right news sites. In general, Swedish media simply talks about any cases that happen, and there isn't as much stigma towards for example rape victims and working hard for progressive reforms by pointing out any injustice.
There are people (often far right supporters) who avoid even going on the metro towards the so called "no go zones" (most of whom have never been there in the first place) - but they're really quite nice compared to most neighborhoods around the world. The infamous car burnings were a couple of isolated incidents made by a group of 30ish youths, from what I've heard. I took an American friend to visit Akalla, and he thought it was a joke that this was a "bad" part of town. And yes, socioeconomically, poorer areas are more prone to illegal activities and pent up aggression (or psychological effects from what immigrants may have been through), and I can admit that refugee integration is far from perfect. For one, finding accommodation or jobs, if you are allowed to seek employment while waiting for political asylum, can be really hard, especially without money or contacts. There are predominantly immigrants living in those areas, but Microsoft, Ericsson, and other big tech companies also host their HQs nearby in Kista due to the cheaper real estate with good highway communication. It is NOT a war zone. Fear can make people behave strangely.
Another often mentioned problem is the amount of beggars on the streets, an influx mainly from Romania and Bulgaria (due to free movement within the EU). A Romanian friend is very suspicious of them, and has heard things being said between them that suggests that the begging is organized, but I've seen very few actual problems (although I can't vouch for how the beggars are treated by their supposed "pimp"). I believe the problem is mainly that the average Swede isn't accustomed to seeing that kind of poverty, and that begging was pretty much non-existent 10 years ago.
This is purely anecdotal evidence; but the worst crime I've been exposed to personally was a girl who stole my phone charger on the train (cuz I let her borrow it), after which I moved to another part of the carriage. Then she even came up and tried to pay me cuz she felt bad - to which I declined. I've heard of worse, but can't bring to mind any specific examples of stuff that's happened to any of my friends. I think Tokyo is the only other place I've felt as safe as in as Stockholm. Even when visiting one of the world's poorest countries in the world, where my white skin really stood out - and I almost got mugged - I almost exclusively felt a tremendous amount of warmth from the locals. Much less so than what I've experienced from ethnically Swedish trash (once again, I am Swedish myself, but well traveled).
Sweden: Safest Road
Finland: Best Schools
Norway: Most effective prison method
Me: NO WHERE NEAR
We Norwegians actually have safer roads than Sweden, in fact the world's safest.
Swedish school are actually better !
I think another huge factor is our driver's education. It features A LOT of focus on road safety, including a mandatory course on alcohol/drugs, how sleep affects driving, how potential damage increases exponentially with speed.
I dont know what I was expecting something more
Listen to 99% Invisible podcast "H-Day" about this same topic, it's about 20 minutes and it's very informative.
Yeah they just gave numbers and said fatalities reduced after the new committee was formed. Disappointing.
This video didn't answer anything at all. Smh.
Name some other nations that could afford to change their entire road infrastructure in a single day.....
Its the same in Norway, we sat a new record we least deaths in traffic since the 70s. 107 people died (of 5.3 mil.) Thats is 2 people per 100K.
What people don't realise is the fact that Norway and Sweden are immense (I'm speaking of area here) and have small populations. Hence, you will have far less cars on the roads further away from the big cities, so the probability of a car crash is lower there, leading to less people dying in car related accidents. You will never see these kind of numbers in countries like the U.K. or Germany due to the simple fact that the population density is higher.
Generally traffic fatalities are actually much higher in areas where traffic volumes are low, this is due to the fact that people are more careful and drive significantly slower in urban areas, expecting things to be more dangerous (as they would be if you drove the same way in an urban area as in a rural area). Rural roads are also generally in somewhat worse shape at an average and have less signs, barriers and planning involved than in urban areas. However, per capita road fatalities are actually comparable to Sweden in Britain.
Sure, people are less careful on country roads, but you cannot deny the fact that areas with high traffic will lead to more accidents. Take the German autobahn for example. The number of traffic stops each day due to some incident are quite high. Choosing not to respect the road rules has nothing to do with how many cars are on the road. You also mentioned that the UK has comparable per capita fatalities. That shows how clickbait this video actually is. Everything mentioned in here about the so-called Swedish solution to road safety is something that every country does - lower speed limit inside and outside cities, seatbelt laws etc. So why not use Britain as an example? It is clearly more impressive in a country with higher population density. Also, the roads aren't really that safe here in Sweden. The amount of people that veer left or right or people who stay in the outside lane on the highway way below speed limit because they are texting is insane. Not to mention other common traffic laws that people simply choose not to respect.
Sweden has 2.8 road deaths per hundred thousand people according to Wikipedia.
The UK figure is 2.9...
It's not the same. Because norwegians often use Swedish roads when going on long trips, Norwegian district roads is a disaster compared with swedish roads, and cars are about 40% more expensive in Norway. You see more old cars in Norway than Sweden. This summer I used my car for vacation. I had about 2hours on Norwegian roads and 20hours on finnish and swedish roads.
Mostly correct, except "nollvisonen" (vision zero)isn´t about zero deaths, it´s rather about zero deaths and zero serious injuries, i.e. the kind of injuries crippling people
simon anderson that's nice, but wouldn't a better goal be zero accidents?
well zero accidents would be the best, but an accident where there are only mild or no injuries doesn´t really affect the traffic of the society as much as deaths or severe injuries
Remove cars
EZ
Perhaps they also should have mentioned drunk driving. In In 1990 the alcohol limit was lowered from 0.5 per mille, to 0.2. In many other countries (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, China, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Germany) it's still 0.5 and in some, like the US for instance, it's 0.8. 30 % of the people involved in traffic accidents are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, 90 % of them are men. So the numbers could be way lower if we got the drunk drivers off the roads.
Lowering the limit at which you can be charged with DUI doesn't stop a drunken person from entering and operating a vehicle. I would argue that if someone was driving drunk and caused a traffic accident, they likely weren't stopped by the police at any point during their ride.
It's good that the alcohol limit was lowered for sure, but I can't see it being a very significant reason for the low traffic accident rate.
Åsa S the BAC limit in the US is actually only 0.08 . Even with the lowering you're still over twice what we consider acceptable.
Michael Carnes Think you're confusing per mille (‰) with percent (%). 0.2 ‰ is much lower than 0.8 ‰.
Åsa S it didn't help that you used an obscure unit instead of the standard notation method.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_mille?wprov=sfla1
0.5 ‰ in Finland
0:55 I remember when my dad told me about that. He was sitting in the car as a kid and the government had decided a time when everyone on the road was gonna stay still for 20 minutes or something like that before changing side and then staying 20 more minutes before starting to drive again to not create any confusion if someones clock wasn't running correctly.
Great video, but horrible way to come to conclude. 2:55
"there's no trade-off -- safety is always priority"
Okay then, why don't they just ban cars all together? Instant way to get 0 traffic fatalities.
This, but unironically.
The less there are cars, the safer traffic becomes. It really is as simple as that.
Are you always this smart or do you just like to troll?
cause without cars there would be alot more accidents with people using bikes/motor vechiles?
Nah.. There would of cource be a lot less incidents without cars..
I know right! Oh and while we are at it, why not just get rid of all the people and there won't be any murders!
I'm a genius! /sk
In our country we just text the driver coming in the opposite direction that we're pulling out to overtake. Simple.
mycomments arebeinghidden but how do you get his number??😕
he doesn't, ALLAHU AKBAR!
Safety, is #1 priority.
Welcome to my laboratory
a government that cares about the people and makes significant changes. what a wonderful place.... I actually started tearing up at the end of the video.
wendy3212 . Sweden is democracy, they do what people want not just governments
>government cares about its people
As a Swede, I say that this is false
They only care about the refugees flooding our country and not us swedes
Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand, etc.
Judging by your name you are a nazi. You also have no idea what you are talking about.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa, Sweden is being Islamized because the people want it? Stockholm-syndrome at its worst, that is what is happening. @ Gabriel Sander, Judging by your name you are religious fanatic who doesn't have a clue what Nazi's are.
I am born in former yugoslav repuplic but raised in sweden. For living iam driving truck.
I can explain how the swedish people are in traffic. Number one they drive slowly. And number two when they are in traffic they are never in a rush and voila most safe roads in the world.
We have bigger citys, when you se that number of 21 persons per km2 do you think we acually live like that? Because we don't
Never in a rush my ass, whenever I drive in and around Stockholm I may or may not drive 10kmh over the speed limit and people are overtaking from left and right.
@ekim andersom No. American rural counties have a lot of space with low population, yet their fatality rates are even higher than the US average and much much higher than Sweden.
Biggest Swedish auto fabric:
-Volvo- ❌
-Saab- ❌
*IKEA* ✅
ekim andersom yes 😀 thanks btw
SCANDINAVIA FTW
Mr Hassu no ei vitussa
Fmono håll käften
Fmono gem säger du no till
Poopy PoepStein not all Muslims are like that just so you know
Rich Moneybags McBucks(Norway)
Cuckistan(Sweden)
Cold Lakes and Old Phones(Finland)
I'm one of those people who was saved from serious injury or death by wearing a 3-point seatbelt way back in 1978, when virtually nobody wore them since this wasn't yet required by law.
Such a poor journalism from Bloomberg ...
I watched the video because it's from Bloomberg
But it didn't provide full reason on switching left to right driving.. and how it effects.. just put some statistics and clamming success of Sweden as because of Rich not because of it's accurate policy and implementation of such policy... which is kinda textbook example of yellow journalism..
The secret to pewdiepie's success.
Great video but could've gone more in depth about all the regulations Sweden has and how strict tests you have to pass to get a license. I guess most countries don't include "wet practice" during your licence test.
The video makes out that driving on the right-hand side of the road is inherently safer and that is not true at all. You spent over half the video explaining nothing about road safety.
I heard that Australia is going to switch over also.
But being Australians..they are taking it in stages.
They're going to allow trucks to change over first for two weeks for them to get use to it.
Funy, see what you did there (y)
Yes, det är så najs att kolla på videor där de pratar bra om Sverige! Det gör mer stolt! :D
(Yes, it’s so nice to watch videos were they talk about what’s good about Sweden! It makes me proud!)
Next, how Sweden nailed immigration?
nitro ytp/gameplay Want some water for that burn
lmfao
nitro ytp/gameplay Assure has valid point
Yeah, as if the liberal media would want to do that... lmao.
My wifes boyfriend Muhammad was offended by your insinuation
Wow Sweden is Fantastic!
As boring as milk tea, dude.
Sooooo... That's the same in every EU country. Didn't see anything new. You still didn't answer why their numbers are so low compared to others.
Probably the driver training, its much harder to get a license nowadays than say 30 years ago
In Portugal too (execpt when there are some corruption) but you can fail on your drivers test quite easily... That clearly has nothing to do with that. I don't doo half the things I learned at drivers school.
Yeah Germany is very safe to, it's illigal to have the red lights on during the day 👌👌👌
Gave away the 3-point seatbelt and saved so many lives. Great respect and many thanks from US!!
Yup no need for social responsibility when you've got great technology, dude.
Well clearly, you haven't seen people driving at "Södertälje".
Do people die in traffic in Södertälje?
Dolan Dole no they don't, but it is common to see incidents
You mean in
hej då yo autocorrect
Samsung Galaxy sure
Most children are also rearfacing until at least 4 years old! Rearfacing longer is one of the things that could help save thousands of children in traffic accidents.
Is it me or Sweden is better at everything?
Yes, number one at importing rapists and terrorists.
that's not relevant to the video mate
Whatever makes you sleep at night mate.
DarreTheSwede okay mate
@@GangsterDolphins yeah mate
the sound effect was awesome
We'd have 0 road accidents if it hadn't been for Stockholmers not knowing how to use winter tires whwn they drive up north.
0:36 - Notice that traffic is still on the left in this black & white film, even though the street markings have been changed to the right in anticipation of the switch.
I can't wait to move there.
kom inte, tack
Sorry, but the US doesn't value chemistry professors and i need to live in a modern nation.
You are very much welcome!
unun septium Sorry to hear that. I hope you find your place here :)
Trust me you can
I think that one big thing is that the left lane is only for passing in Sweden. No one uses the left lane for anything other than that unless the driver is a tourist. When I visited the US it was a mess, everyone was overtaking everyone from anywhere. It felt very unsafe. It was the same way in Spain
The change to right-side traffic didn't even change the accident rate. People were just more careful briefly after the change.
Vladimir really?? So are the figures incorrect??
But the long-term impact of having Sweden aligned with the Nordics made traffic more predictable, which in itself has saved numerous lives.
Mattie after a while the decline started yes, but that had nothing to do with the change to right-side traffic. Because humans are more right-eye dominant it makes us better at driving on the left side for whatever reason.
Still, it makes no sense to drive on the left side with a left steered car. I drive a right steered car for work in Sweden and I have to be really careful cuz I have very little vision on my left side when turning right for example.
I support the decision.
My grandmother backed uo into a Volvo with her Kia. The volvo barely had a scratch and the kia had a HUGE dent
You didn't explain"how"
NeeyatiSharma333059 yeah everything they explained is pretty much standard in most countries. I'm pretty sure the seatbelt and just newer cars with airbags were the reasons.
X3C basically it was clickbait.
Im surprised the video dislike still low, come on guys!!
We still drive on the Left. So if we swap to the right we will slash our road death rate. Who would have thought!
Orlando Da Silva but the driver seat is on the right if i am correct
My grandma and granda had just gotten their license the year the change from left to right traffic happend, needless to say they've told me loads of times how confusing it was, and how scary it was to meet someone who hadn't really understood the change driving on the wrong side of the road
Sverige
Fun fact: We actually voted about keeping left or switching to right.
Keeping left won.
According to BLOOMBERG, by the 2020 Sweden will start using Seat belt in motorcycles....😅😅😅😂😂😂
airbags
That's awesome, so your impact weight will be bigger since you bring your motorcycle with you while landing
BMW C1
hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/bmwbmw-1515089225.gif
So that would have killed my boss when he had to bail of his bike to avoid going under a lorry... came away with a broken leg instead of being crushed to a pulp like the bike was.... Dumbest idea I have ever heard.
Nathan G
I think there is misunderstanding here. If I got it right the legislation would require for airbags. And the wrong assumption here is IF airbag THEN seatbelt. The airbag proposed however are in the helmet, they are basically protecting your neck and making it harder to snap on impact. There is no seatbelt involved. However there is a law on the book that requires you to wear a seatbelt if the vehicle has one installed so technically if a motorcycle company would install them you would have to wear them, however as you said that would be counter to safety.
You should make a video on how Austria changed from driving on the left to driving on the right. We surely made it as complex as possible, switching state by state by state over a time-frame of several years in the 30s
Matthias S1234 O.O I am austrian and I did not know that we were driving on the left side back in the days
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Links-_und_Rechtsverkehr#/media/File:Driving_standards_historic.svg
Hier, alles was grün, bzw. orange eingefärbt ist hatte mal Linksverkehr, zumindestens nach 1858.
Now only uk and australia remaining
Aaron Goyvaerts Japan. India.
552mustang oh yeah you're right
Ireland, Hong Kong.
But in these countries driver sits right hand side of the car. In Sweden they were driving left hand side driving car in left side of the road.
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, S Africa...
I live in sweden and i Didnt know a few of these things :) Great video💯
This video doesn’t explain why Sweden’s roads are so safe. It just points out stuff that every developed country has
It because we pay high tax and don't give most of it to the war machine.
Mathias Eriksson Half of USA taxes are used for the military. No wonder we can't fix our infastructure.
Really, America could have free healthcare, good schools and roads, end all homelessness in the country, etc, but instead we spend billions on the military. I guess killing other people is more important than saving yourself here.
Name some other nations that can afford to change their entire road infrastructure in a single day.......
Well that still doesn't answer my question
great video, but i wished the video elaborate more on present day traffic management, and comparison to road safety and number of accidents in other wealthy countries.
Swedens road safety got severely damage a few days ago.
Cause I just got my licence xd
The thing they missed is that they're making it more and more expensive to take the license. "You have to take this course", it takes 3 hours and cost you like 100$. That's only for one of the courses... Don't get me started with the bikes...
Yeah you ned a bike license here
This video dont tell me shit but they drive on the right side of the road wow!!!!
Just 250 people died in traffic in Sweden in 2017.
The Aztec sacrifice of Swedish social negligence!
Just ban human drivers
No one will ever insure self driving cars, dude.
yeah we are quite rich, but still most of Sweden has got snow for a 3months of the year to! a huge factor in accidents
I live in Stockholm, Sweden, and I would happily give up some safety for more convenience, . Here 4-lane highways are 70 or even 50 km/h, while most other countries have 100+ km/h in similar roads.
Filip Starberg
Are you high? "Slower is actually faster?!"
Time enroute equals distance divided by average speed. Thus, a higher speed limit will get you where you're going proportionately faster...assuming you obey the law, that is. (Excepting some odd "corner cases" like gridlocked traffic, which don't often apply to cross-country driving...if you're hitting rush hour traffic, take a different route or leave at a different time.)
bcubed72 try and back off from your dear physics law, going slower means homogeneity in traffic flow => less likelihood of accidents => reduced traffic jams www.wri.org/blog/2017/05/need-safe-speed-4-surprising-ways-slower-driving-creates-better-cities
bcubed72
That only holds true if the distance travelled is smaller then your tank lasts. Depending on the car the ideal fuel economy in modern cars is somewhere between 70 km/h (43 mph) and 100 km/h (62 mph) _[more precisely the RPM in the highest gear somewhere 3200-3800 if I remember right]._ Anything outside these values comes with a disproportionate consumptions penalty. So take 33mpg (≈7l/100km) and a 12-2 gallon (45-7.5l) tank (15% is emergency reserves) on NYC→Washinton D.C. 230 miles (370km).
🔵So 230/33≈7gal so I arrive with 5-2=3gal in the tank and regular speed after 3h40m at 62mph in DC.
🔴Let's assume a speed with penalty of 30% we are driving night 'illegally' 5+ limit so 70 mph (110kmh) so 20mpg (≈11.8l/100km) meaning 30miles before DC you pull out in Maryland and pump your own gas (f*ck jersey) and 20 min later you're on the road again. So 230/70 ≈ 3h20m + 20m = 3h40m.
Result: no time saved and money lost. And the longer the distance the wider the gap (avg.). The spcefic can vary but you get the overall principle. I personally though prefer a coffee break ^^
bcubed72 but the faster people go, the more traffic jams occur. Thus you're slower, Einstein.
You mean that you wouldn't mind being one of the extra deaths that would occur? :o
Sweden is the definition of safe and quality
And social responsibility needs to be dusted off.
this is BS trying to make a model out of a low population (and density as well) country to others that are more populated (and dense in cities)
Chansamai Ly He did a percentage comparison not overall..
Recentely moved to Norway from Sweden and here they have lower speed limits, I’ve rarely driven faster than 80 here while in Sweden roads with speed up to 110-120 is a lot more common. Speeding tickets cost a lot also.
Yeah I just love swedish laws, like not defining rape until 1 week ago
Huh? You're talking about the country that perhaps takes rape the most seriously? What are you talking about? Stuff that are considered rape in Sweden is legal in most of the world ffs
Fheed Pexx What, like winking?
Also, your country has the highest rape rape in the world. (One of the highest)
Shut up.
www.snopes.com/fact-check/crime-sweden-rape-capital-europe/
Orppranator lol who told you that? Fox news? Lmao get out of here gringo
Orppranator To have alot of rape cases in the statistics isnt really the same as having alot of rapes. It only means more rapes get reported and that we have a wider spectrum of What is considered a rape.
It's more than sensible to enact safety measures, and Sweden has shown that it can make bold decisions and country-wide initiatives work.
Islamic State of Sweden
Cry Cry of jealousy about Sweet Sweden.
No please stop i dont want to hear about those fucking immigrants
I see what u did there.
Th3DEAD who's jealous of a country that's turning into an islamic state? Lol fucking liberals are out of touch with reality
Th3DEAD nobody wants be in sweden right now. And what about that fucking feminism shit? "Hen" lol.;
One thing they didn't mention in the video is that out age limit for getting your drivers license is 18 years, and from what I understand, it is much harder to get it here compared to, for example, the US. You have to pass both a theoretical test as well as a drivning test. And before this, you have to compleate courses where they you test driving on very slippery roads, and they teach you what to do if you lose grip on the road. Many people also take many lessons in driving. Maybe this is one reason the mortality is so low, new drivers are more prepared before they drive on their own?
My father was 7 years old when it happend, I love listening to the stories about that day, the change and how people reacted. Road saftey is taught very realy in our country, I remember getting instructions on how to cross, the rules of helmets when you are on a bike, speed limits and what lane to use on the sidewalk to not interfere with cyclists.
1:29 Omg you’re like the first youtuber ever to pronounce ö in the correct way👍
pretty sureNorway drove on the right side before the swedes, i remember my grandad telling stories about how they had to switch to the other side of the road when crossing from Norway to sweden.
Interesting story: The Swedish people voted on this and voted against the change. The government implemented the change despite the people's say in the matter and it was obviously for the better.
Three things
1. Why didn't Sweden outlaw the importing of left-handed vehicles?
2. Why should an entire country's infrastructure be reveresed, for impatient people?
3. If people were willing to drive on the wrong side of the road, to bypass slower moving traffic, what made them obey slower speed limits?
Sweden also has "fences" on some of the biggest roads that are basicly long steel wires. They are very effective preventing sleepy drivers from crashing, but they also have an unfortunate nickname: Biker slicer. (Pretty neat that it sounds cool in English aswell!)
If driving on the left side of road was SO DANGEROUS, how come Britain and many other countries still drive and manage to live longer? Are you suggesting that driving on the left side of the road is absolutely unsafe?
What you forgot to mention is that there was a referendum in Sweden on switching the driving side, won by an overwhelming no vote.
We also have the highest amount of signs per viewing angle and a high amount of trafic cameras and as someone said below stop mean stop and the triangle means letting other cars drive. The book with all the regulation and signs are quiet thick.
I still do not see, what the lesson to be learned is.
The point is: all of the european countries, usa, most of asia have implemented the same things. They use safety belts and all those other things and yet have higher rates.
So instead of telling us what Sweden introduced what other countries also introduced, tell us what is different to most of comparable countries.
Thing is, over 90% of the drivers here is Sweden shouldn't and wouldn't have their driving licence, if they would have to do the tests again. Most don't know more than 4-5 traffic rules.
I'm a driver in a left driving country and I don't find overtaking cars difficult. You're thinking left driving is dangerous because you are assuming the driver seat is at the left. Cars are not the same across the world.
Noone mentions tyres are a million times better and disc brakes are on every car.
If you say we spend a lot of money on road infrastructure, I wonder how much the us does. Their roads are beautiful. A little complicated sometimes, but beautiful.
Det känns så konstigt att veta att vi har kört på vänster sida.
Volvo's zero vision is incredibly astonishing!
Misleading video. They compare Sweden to the 'world', and it looks like an amazingly low fatality rate, but it's pretty much the same as the UK.
RyanjMelville you drive on the other side of the road and we changed that to make it safer. SURE
Although I'm sure that Sweden does a lot of good things in the name of road safety, the graph at around 2:24 doesn't prove much about its particular approach. The US saw a very similar and dramatic decline in traffic deaths over the same period.
A couple of points to add, compared to nations like US, its harder to get a license, we also have a rule that you cant overtake someone in the right lane, even if its free, always in the left lane, makes traffic somewhat more predictable.
The typical lane switching you often see in US, to get in the faster lane isnt really a problem here, but we got less traffic so maybe we cant point to that as the main factor.
Bloomberg's video really gives you a dumbed down and oversimplified version of road safety in Sweden. First of all, number of deaths per capita is not a good measurement, better to look at number of deaths per mile traveled. Bloomberg's focus on the 1967 reform is also strange as the big drop in fatalities came many years later. Here are a few road safety factors to consider:
Factors reducing the numbers:
1. Traffic density is low in Sweden. Most fatal accidents in Sweden actually only involve one car. If Sweden had the same population density as the Netherlands or the UK, I think accidents would increase, all other factors remaining the same.
2. Swedes drive large and safe cars, with Volkswagen and Volvo topping the charts year after year. Much safer than American brands.
3. It is relatively hard to get a driver's license in Sweden.
4. If you live in an urban area in Sweden, you don't need a car as public transport is usually decent. This means people who shouldn't drive, because of age, health issues, stress, fatigue etc have an alternative.
5. Speed limits are low in Sweden (compared to many European countries, not to the US)
6. Swedes are very safety minded. Helmet use among cyclist is high and (almost) everyone uses a seatbelt while travelling in a car, even in the backseat or in the city at low speeds.
7. Swedes drive relatively slowly, at least compared to German, French and Italian drivers.
8. Sweden allows spiked winter tires, very useful in icy conditions.
9. Swedish road design is very safety conscious. Lanes are wide, guard rails are good and many country roads have a 2+1 design. There are also thousands of miles of fencing to keep large animals off the roads.
10. Driving after alcohol consumption is frowned upon in Sweden and you can lose your license already after small quantities.
Factors increasing the numbers:
1. Sweden is very dark, snowy and cold in the winter. This means reduced visibility and risk of slippery roads.
2. There are few marked police cars on the roads.
3. There are few speed cameras.
4. While penalty charges for speeding are quite high, the legal consequences of very reckless driving are rather understated. People who cause accidents while driving under the influence of narcotics or alcohol get very lenient sentences.
5. Until recently, there was no system in place to confiscate cars that were systematically uninsured or driven by license less drivers.
Also, Sweden has on estimate only one car for every 2 people in the country which is pretty low. Less cars = less collisions
Poland, for instance, is surprisingly safe knowing the country's wealth and that the speed limits are among the highest in the world - 149 km/h is perfectly legal on a highway.
If I said "drink driving" to a cop I would be under arrest
Having a low acceptable limit of blood alcohol content (0.02% compared to 0.08% in the UK and 0.05-0.08 % in the US) probably helps too. And that it´s manditory to have dubbed winter tires on during the winter. There are also a lot of moose accidents so putting up fences and building tunnels or bridges for them also probably have improved road safety. More people wearing helmets while riding a bike (manditory for children) probably also lowered the fatalities in traffic. Also, I think the hospitals have improved and is better than saving the lives of people involved in traffic accidents compared to the 1970s.
It would be horrible for us Norwegians to go shopping in Sweden if we had to change lines. I think its very good that we have the same system on the whole of the Scandinavian peninsula
my country people really need to learn from you
Almost everything you said is implemented in many countries that have the same problem. You never showed why Sweden is an exception to the rest of the world
Hi I am from Ghana ,
I want to be an advocate for road Safety
I dont think it had anything to do with changing from left to right hand drive. We saw the same drop in deaths in other countries after the introduction of seat belts and speed limits from around 1970, and they still drive on the same side of the road.
Most countries that drive on the left side of the road have the steering wheel on the right so no problem overtaking.
. Its unusual Sweden drove on the left with the steering wheel also on the left?. Thats weird, I've never heard that. How many countries did that?
Lower death rate when doubling the number of cars is not astonishing, but natural. The more cars you have, the less chances you have to express your individualistic approach to driving. You are forced to go with the flow.
I'm sorry, but I didn't learn anything from this. There's no information here you couldn't get by spending 30 sec on wikipedia. It doesn't answer "How Sweden Nailed Road Safety" at all, all it does is say they changed the side of the road, then started becoming focused on safety, and now it's safe. That's not answering any _how_ at all.
That feeling when deaths caused by driving accidents have risen 50% in Sweden
It's because they have good metal and when you drive you listen to good metal.
So...This explains why they lowered their rate but not why it's lower compared to the rest of the world...