2007/12/25

I Guess It Depends on Who You Ask

We, in theory, live in the Information Age. But how good is the information that we are being given? Take these seriously conflicting statistics about accidents during Eid, all taken from the police, reported in the three main English language papers:

Khaleej Times:
During the Eid Al Adha holidays, more than 500 traffic accidents were reported in the emirate of Dubai, resulting in injuries to several people. However, no casualty was reported.
(I assume from the context that the author meant "no fatalities" and not "no casualty", since injured people are casualties.)

7Days:
In Dubai, officers said there had been 65 accidents, with four people left dead and 46 injured - some seriously - over the three days.

Gulf News:
Two people were killed and several others were injured in traffic accidents during Eid holidays in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

7Days:
In Al Ain, eight people died and 39 injured in crashes...

So, in Dubai, the death toll was either zero or four. In both Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, the death toll was two, or in Al Ain alone the death toll was eight.

No comments: