Surveillance footage from Vietnam has gone viral, capturing a young couple—appearing to be part of a “delinquent” subculture—moments after a breakup. As the boyfriend attempts to ride away on his motorbike, the girlfriend gives him a shove; in a turn of events so shocking it’s hard to believe, he ends up being struck by a bus and killed instantly. The footage even shows the aftermath, including the boyfriend’s body.
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Discrepancy between government statistics and WHO estimates regarding the number of accidental deaths
As seen in the footage, fatal accidents involving motorcycles and large vehicles are a persistent issue on Vietnamese roads; however, it is questionable how accurately the true scale of these incidents is actually captured. Regarding the number of traffic-related fatalities in 2021, the Vietnamese government reported approximately 6,000 deaths, whereas the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the figure to be around 17,000—a discrepancy of nearly threefold.
Meanwhile, the traffic fatality rate stands at 17.7 per 100,000 population, a figure that exceeds both the Asia-Pacific regional average of 15.2 and the Southeast Asian regional average of 14.4. Nevertheless, the rate declined by 47% between 2010 and 2021, suggesting that the pace of improvement has actually outstripped the regional average. While official statistics point to an improvement, the gap between these figures and the estimates provided by international organizations highlights the inherent difficulty in accurately gauging the true extent of fatalities on the road.
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