French drivers have way to go

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Your correspondent H Barkley (Letters, September) calls for French drivers to be praised for reducing the annual death toll from a horrendous 16,500 in 1972 to last year’s 3,488.

Fair enough, but this still compares unfavourably with the UK. At 5.5 per 100,000 population, the annual death rate in France is 77% higher than the UK’s 3.1 per 100,000.

Still some way to go, but a lot better than Thailand, whose death rate per 100,000 population is an incredible 32.7, according to Wikipedia.

On second thoughts, it’s maybe not that incredible, having spent two weeks with my wife driving in northern Thailand – U-turns on four-lane highways are de rigueur.

David Shamash, South Fawley, England

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