OFF THE CUFF: Costa Rica gets dangerous driving world ranking

COSTA RICA  has been ranked fourth  in a world listing of the most dangerous countries for drivers.

The report  comes  from Australian fleet management firm Global Positioning Specialists (GPS).

Though the country often ranks high near more enviable lists like the Happiness Index, the unwanted designation takes into account Costa Rica’s relatively bad infrastructure, among other negative factors.

The study measured three categories: road conditions, traffic fatalities, and car theft.

On a scale of 1 (among the worst in the world) to 7 (among the world’s best), Costa Rica’s road quality scored a 2.8.

In road traffic deaths and vehicle theft rates per 100,000 people, the country also ranked poorly. [Panama and Costa Rica were tied in 2015 at 38.4  road deaths per 100,000 vehicles).

Costa Rica ranked in the top 20 for all individual categories, with its worst rating coming in road quality.

A spokesman from GPS said methodology for the road quality index came from the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015 where roads are also ranked by a 1-to-7 scale. In that list, Costa Rica’s roads ranked 119th out of the 141 polled countries.

Lebanon was named the most dangerous country for drivers, while Uruguay and Colombia rounded out the top three ahead of Costa Rica. The United States ranked as the 12th worst country for drivers and was noted for its high vehicular crime rate.

In November, the Cost Rica Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) reported the lowest amount of accident-related deaths for any month in the past three years, with 20 registered traffic fatalities, Meanwhile in Panama traffic deaths are fast approaching 420, seiint the country on track for its worst year ever.

Comments from Costa Rican drivers have a familiar ring to Panamanians:  like: “What makes the problem worse is lack of traffic enforcement by transit police, overloaded dump trucks with excessive weight tearing up the roads, inept/incompetent traffic planning

aggressive drivers, and poor road maintenance.’’