Section VII
INTERNATIONAL
This section contains transportation and related
data for selected countries. Basic socioeconomic data is provided
to establish a framework for the transportation indicators that
follow. These include information about each country's network
of roadways, ownership and use of roadway vehicles, including
the fatalities attributable to those vehicles, and fuel prices.
Topics were chosen to correspond with major topics presented
elsewhere in this volume. Except as noted, data is for the calendar
year 1993, which is the most recent year in which it is available
for many countries.
The availability of reliable information was
a major consideration in selecting topics; therefore, some useful
areas were not covered because of the unavailability of complete
and comparable data from an array of countries that could readily
be converted to meaningful indicators. Countries were selected,
as other developed countries and/or major U.S. trading partners,
for comparisons with the U.S. system. Japan, four European countries
and our North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) trading partners
were chosen as examples of these. Much of the data on the United
Kingdom is for Great Britain only, which does not include Northern
Ireland; this, too, is noted with the individual tables. Most
U.S. data came from Highway Statistics 1993 or directly
from other Federal Highway Administration sources.
Table IN-1 sets forth indicators of social
and demographic status for each country, including population,
land area, population density, gross domestic product (GDP) and,
where available, expenditures for roadways. These are shown for
1993 in order to correspond with the transportation data. The
GDP and GDP per capita dollar amount estimates for each country
are stated in terms of purchasing power equivalents. This method
involves the use of dollar price weights applied to the quantities
of goods and services produced by the economy. With this method
of conversion, a given sum of dollars in the U.S. will buy the
same amount of goods as that same amount, converted to the local
currency, will buy in the other country. While population, land
area, population density, and GDP vary greatly among the countries,
GDP per capita varies only slightly among seven of the eight countries.
Mexico is less economically developed than the others and varies
from them in all important indicators. Only a limited amount of
data is available to address expenditures for roadways. Of that
which is available, the percent of GDP consumed on all road expenditures
varies considerably while that for new construction is more uniform
between countries.
Table IN-2 provides information on roadway
systems. Expressways and other main roadways are grouped together under
"major roads" while all others are considered "secondary
roads." These are only general categories, as the definitions and data
collection processes vary from country to country. The tables and accompanying
charts show the inverse relationship between the previously displayed population
density and miles per population unit for all roads. The correlation with major
roads is somewhat less pronounced.
Table IN-3 shows the numbers of several types
of vehicles and vehicles per capita. Some countries count only
selected populations of trucks, and possibly use varying methods
for counting other vehicle types as well. Although all known
variations between data are noted in footnotes, it is possible
that some were not apparent from the original data sources and
so are not noted. The data on automobiles per population unit
clearly show the disparity between Mexico and the more developed
countries.
Table IN-4, together with the miles-traveled
data, presents a display of the intensity of vehicle usage. Again
the disparity between Mexico and the other countries is apparent.
Table IN-5 shows fuel costs and the contribution
to the economy of the transportation and related sectors. Fuel
prices vary widely between countries and reflect full costs including
applicable taxes. More than 50 percent of gasoline prices in
the European countries can be attributed to taxes. While diesel
fuel taxes are less than those on gasoline they are substantial
by comparison with those imposed in the United States. The contribution
of the transport, storage and communication sectors to the economies
is surprisingly uniform for all countries except Mexico and the
employment portion for the U.S.
Table IN-6 provides fatalities and fatality
rates for each country. Fatality rates are lowest for the U.K.,
Canada, and the U.S. and highest for Mexico.
USE OF DATA
The data in this section came from reliable
published sources which are noted with the individual tables.
Ultimately all data came from the source countries. Data collection
methods, definitions of terms, and basic political and economic
infrastructures vary from country to country. These differences
will manifest themselves in many ways within the data items and
may not always be apparent. All data in this section should, then,
be used with great care and only for general comparisons.