the 10 Safest and most dangerous countries in the world

[Leenie]

I found this article discussing the safest and most dangerous countries in the world. The good news is that Mexico is not one of the top 10 most dangerous places! However the US is not on of the 10 safest places either. The US is 83 our of 144 on the list or 57% of the world is safer than the US. Mexico did not fare much better, they were 103 on the list. Take it however you want to. But here's the article and a link to the Global Peace Index (GPI)

The website is pretty interesting. You can see different demographics for each country.you can even compare country to country.

the previous years stats are very interesting as well the US 97 on the list and mexico was 93!
Either way I am still mexico bound for this weekend!!


Article
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3725472,00.html

website
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/results/rankings.php

 

[rockyptjoe]

I think that some of the factors they used in evaluating the countries really have nothing to do with the safety of the populace.....such as foreign wars and the arms trade....it goes more with the "peaceful" country index........and NOT "dangerous"!

 

[Stuart]

Do they have a driving index? One that reflects the relative danger of driving in the country and deaths attributed to driving per 100,000 people? If so, Mexico has to be on that top 10 list! Any of you that have ventured Mex 1 down Baja or Mex 15 down to San Carlos know what I mean. Roads with no shoulders, steep drop-offs, semi-swallowing potholes, buses and trucks that take their lane and 1/2 of yours, vehicles with no lights doing 10 mph... aye, aye, aye! White knuckle driving at it's finest! Makes the road to Rocky Point look like a Super Highway.

Ahhh, the old days of driving to Rocky Point. The bumpity-bump narrow concrete death path built around World War II. You'd be tooling along and all of a sudden see a small smudgepot (paint can with burning asphalt) in the road ahead. Better stop in a hurry, amigo, because that's where the road ends! You'd suddenly find yourself taking an off-road excursion through the desert for a few miles. Newbies to RP now have it soooo easy. Good road and they can drive like bats of hell, passing everything, and occasionally intersecting with some other object (like a dumptruck) and splattering themselves like bugs on a windshield! A different danger. One that's completely self-induced.

 

[rockyptjoe]

Stuart....I'm not as much an "old timer" as you are, but I remember when they repaved (and straightened) the current road...with the desert excursions around the construction. I used to enjoy the big dips that existed before on the previous road...with enough speed, you could get airborne!!! Anyone familiar with Tangerine Road east of I-10 down by Tucson....those kind of dips....those have probably also been flattened!

 

[Ladyjeeper]

I drove that road starting in the mid 70's. I got run off the road once by a Tecate truck. I crested the hill in front of the Alters once, in the dark, to find a bunch of cows and 2 cowboys all over the road. I remember hearing "loca americana' and a few other expletives hollered at me. :mrgreen: I picked up bodies and stuff after a few wrecks I witnessed over the years. I saw a Corvette run off the road on the "curva peligrosa" Fiberglass cars don't roll well. The people didn't survive. Ah, the smudgepots. And the lone guy wearing a do rag with a kerosene lantern warning of the detours. Kerosene lanterns really aren't very visible at night. Slow cars with no tail lights. Semi's with no tail lights. Broken down cars with no lights halfway off the road. The road was REALLY narrow then! It was road and desert, no buffer zone. And, if it was raining, the washes would be full of sand for a couple of days. Ahh, the memories!!!!

 

[Submarine]

That kind of reminds me of the junk science you see from time to time. Some never heard of group will hold a press conference declaring that Phoenix gets an "F" for being pedestrian friendly. The news will jump on it because they have nothing better to do, interviewing city council members who sheepishly say "yes we ought to do more for our pedestrians in this city". Then some bullshit committee is formed, wasting more city dollars. Usually the head of the dubious fringe group leads the committee. It's all a scam to just get a paycheck and pad their resume.

 

[beachgirl]

Stuart, you took the words that I have been saying about Mex 15 right out of my mouth! On our first and only trip to San Carlos (and Kino Bay), my in-laws were in front of us in their motorhome and they just about lost it on one of those drop-offs--scared the holy bejeebers out of us and then there ain't nothing like having a large death machine pass you so close you could stick your hand out the window and give the guy a knuckle sandwich.