Why you might prefer driving in Denmark than in UAE

LONDON: According to new research, driving a car in Denmark or Finland is much less stressful than taking the wheel in the United Arab Emirates.

The latter country is reportedly home to the world's most stressful driving experience, due to congested roads and a particularly high rate of fatal accidents.

It's not surprising Malaysia has also earned itself a place alongside the UAE, being ranked No. 8 on the list. As Malaysian motorists know, they have their share of reckless drivers/riders, road rage and fatal accidents, many of which have been documented and gone viral with the ubiquitous use of smartphones and dashcams.

The ranking, published by Confused.com — an insurance and financial services comparison platform — shows that the level of driving stress varies greatly from country to country.

Drivers have every reason to be stressed when driving in the United Arab Emirates, as it has the most congested roads (the country has the equivalent of more than 550 cars per kilometre of road), not to mention the most fatal accidents per 100,000 inhabitants.

The research also reveals that Hong Kong has the highest number of speed cameras per kilometre, while Zimbabwe has the worst quality of road infrastructure.

The United Arab Emirates is followed by Bulgaria and Turkey on the podium of countries where driving a car can be particularly stressful.

At the other end of the scale, countries where it is least stressful to drive include Denmark, Finland and Japan.

Top 10 most stressful countries to drive a car in

1. United Arab Emirates
2. Bulgaria
3. Turkey
4. Italy
5. Hong Kong
6. Czech Republic
7. Belgium
8. Malaysia
9. Brazil
10. Argentina

Top 10 least stressful countries to drive a car in

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Japan
4. Spain
5. Saudi Arabia
6. Australia
7. USA
8. Sweden
9. Hungary
10. Slovakia

Confused.com drew on a number of different sources for this study, from the World Health Organisation to the World Economic Forum, in order to rank 49 countries according to four different factors: the quality of the roads, the number of speed cameras, the number of fatal accidents per capita and the number of cars per kilometre of road.

A score, out of 100, then determines how "stressful" the roads are in each country.