Travel Safety

Authorities emphasize the importance of taking precautions to ensure travel safety. When traveling abroad, the odds favor a safe and incident-free trip, however, travelers can be subject to difficulties, crime and violence. Some safety considerations include being aware of one's surroundings, avoiding being the target of a crime, leaving copies of one's passport and itinerary information with trusted people, obtaining medical insurance valid in the country being visited and registering with one's national embassy when arriving in a foreign country. 

Many countries do not recognize drivers' licenses from other countries; however most countries accept international driving permits. Automobile insurance policies issued in one's own country are often invalid in foreign countries, and it is often a requirement to obtain temporary auto insurance valid in the country being visited. It is also advisable to become oriented with the driving-rules and -regulations of destination countries. Wearing a seat belt is highly advisable for safety reasons; many countries have penalties for violating seatbelt laws.

There are three main statistics which may be used to compare the safety of various forms of travel (based on a DETR survey in October 2000):

Mode	Deaths per billion
	Journeys	Hours	Kilometers
Bus	4.3	11.1	0.4
Rail	20	30	0.6
Air	117	30.8	0.05
Ship	90	50	2.6
Van	20	60	1.2
Car	40	130	3.1
Walking	40	220	54
Bicycle	170	550	45
Motorcycle	1640	4840	109