KalahariLog
Thursday, March 29, 2007
After a particularly deadly week, the government newspaper published some statistics about car accidents and crime up to mid-March 2007. The numbers are worse that I expected. There were 91 car accident fatalities in the first 80 days of the year, which when projected to the end of the year yield 415 fatalities. Given population estimates of 1.5 million, this must be one of the most dangerous places in the world to drive (about 8 times worse than the US).
Another statistic that stands out is that 10 out of 108 drivers tested in one week were drunk. There are a couple of things that are worth noting here. I would have expected a higher percentage of the drivers to be intoxicated as it is very common to drink and drive here; maybe the drivers were pulled over during daytime, rather than in the evening. I am also surprised that only 108 drivers were tested in a week. Come to think of it, given that in nearly 7 months here I have yet to see a police car pulling drivers over, this probably is not as surprising...
As most people who've lived here for a few years say, crime is also getting worse in Botswana. The police reports 48 murders so far, compared to 39 at the same time last year, which is an increase of 23%. The current murder rate is 1 in 7000, which is still better than South Africa's 1 in 2000, but not nearly as low as it used to be or as low as people think it is.
All visitors to South Africa know that traveling in the country can be dangerous. As far back as 1998 flame-throwers were reportedly attached to cars as a defensive measure against car-jackings, and were popularized by officials such as Johannesburg's Police Superintendent David Walkley. However, most visitors in Botswana are not aware that the situation here, while not as bad as that in South Africa, is far from perfect.
People try to explain away the high number of murders in Botswana by arguing that "passion killings" account for a big part of the total. As if not calling them murders makes them more acceptable. Botswana is often cited as an example of an African nation of peace and tolerance, and sure enough there haven't been nearly as many big scale internal conflicts as in countries like Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, and so on. However, rape (1 in 2000) and murder (1 in 7000) are a lot more common that the guide books will lead you to believe and theft and armed robberies (1 in 900) are skyrocketing too.
Another statistic that stands out is that 10 out of 108 drivers tested in one week were drunk. There are a couple of things that are worth noting here. I would have expected a higher percentage of the drivers to be intoxicated as it is very common to drink and drive here; maybe the drivers were pulled over during daytime, rather than in the evening. I am also surprised that only 108 drivers were tested in a week. Come to think of it, given that in nearly 7 months here I have yet to see a police car pulling drivers over, this probably is not as surprising...
As most people who've lived here for a few years say, crime is also getting worse in Botswana. The police reports 48 murders so far, compared to 39 at the same time last year, which is an increase of 23%. The current murder rate is 1 in 7000, which is still better than South Africa's 1 in 2000, but not nearly as low as it used to be or as low as people think it is.
All visitors to South Africa know that traveling in the country can be dangerous. As far back as 1998 flame-throwers were reportedly attached to cars as a defensive measure against car-jackings, and were popularized by officials such as Johannesburg's Police Superintendent David Walkley. However, most visitors in Botswana are not aware that the situation here, while not as bad as that in South Africa, is far from perfect.
People try to explain away the high number of murders in Botswana by arguing that "passion killings" account for a big part of the total. As if not calling them murders makes them more acceptable. Botswana is often cited as an example of an African nation of peace and tolerance, and sure enough there haven't been nearly as many big scale internal conflicts as in countries like Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, and so on. However, rape (1 in 2000) and murder (1 in 7000) are a lot more common that the guide books will lead you to believe and theft and armed robberies (1 in 900) are skyrocketing too.
posted by Stephen Kobourov # 3:04 AM 
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