Travel - Travel Safety

Travel Safety

It's important to take 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's often a requirement to obtain temporary auto insurance valid in the country being visited. It's also advisable become oriented with the driving rules and regulations of destination countries. Wearing a seat belt is highly advisable for safety reasons and because 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):