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| Sunday, 20 June 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Road deaths : A national tragedy Continued from last week The health budget should be able to cater for the needs of road trauma, from the time of rescue to rehabilitation. The training of police officers, road users (especially school children) are essential for us to improve our road safety for the future. Creeping
Creepers forcibly insert themselves to the safety gap kept between vehicles in a traffic queue from the left further risking themselves and others. This habit is a trend that is now most commonly seen in the Western Province where even buses, lorries and vans engage in overtaking this way virtually pushing other road users to the middle of the road contributing to confusion, sudden swerving, and braking and even pedestrian harassment. This activity has to stop before it will claim many more lives on the road. Insurance Sri Lanka insurance systems are not sufficient to deter accidents. This is because all collisions are "accidents" for them and they payout, some 'on the spot'. However, the public should not tolerate this kind of settlements, as it is they who would ultimately pay for it as premiums. That is to say the insurance companies would charge the insurers all their losses through premiums. Not all collisions are accidents. Some so-called accidents can be purposeful, due to pure negligence or complete disregard and violation of road regulations. At accidents, people are most concerned about the repair cost, and not what had happened to the third party. Our legal system would perhaps fine them, if they were found to be guilty but this is usually peanuts, may be Rs. 1000/-. Abroad, if a vehicle is involved in an accident, the offending driver's insurance would have to pay the cost of damages, and it is him who loses the no claim bonus. In other words there is a financial price to pay, for not following road regulations. This is in addition to court penalties. In Sri Lanka, following an accident, the drivers themselves would have to pay for their own damages through their insurers whether they are innocent or not and both parties would lose their no claim bonuses, unless one party shows a court ruling making someone guilty. This is rare event, and it is usually therefore the victim who is punished, as it is he who has to find the court ruling, and evidence to safeguard his or her no claim bonus. Thus improvements are needed in our insurance set-up to ensure that a degree of responsibility is passed onto the offending drivers and victims are safeguarded against their losses financially, time spent, grief and difficulties faced without a vehicle during its repair. In other words, it is the drivers who should be insured and not the vehicles. Preventive measurers and pitfalls Common sense should prevail in anything. The police and the government should learn to use statistics and available evidence before implementing changes. It is not surprising if various factions are urging the government to install speed cameras in this country. The motive here would be a partnership to a profitable government contract and nothing else. Thus, the governments should listen with their ears and eyes wide open. Look at the global statistics. When the developed countries achieved an annual traffic accident rate of less than 10 for 10,000 registered vehicles in 1965 and less than five for 10,000 registered vehicles in 1975 (which is one tenth of our current rate), they had no speed cameras. In the United Kingdom there is already an opposition growing against speed cameras. They argue that speed cameras have been only a source of government income and have not really contributed to road safety (BMJ 2004; 328: 174). In our case, many police officers spend hours checking speeds. But if they set up their speed traps in places where the vehicles may be going faster as the road is safe, for example, a long stretch of road in the middle of a paddy field that had no reported accidents, they are just wasting time. They should focus at areas where there are more traffic accidents, particularly fatal ones and find out the cause for it. The cause of accidents on the road at particular spot could be even a tree on the side of the road and not the speed. That is why we should investigate before implementing ad-hoc changes. Stringent rules alone are of no use if the users are unaware of them or wish to ignore them. For example, crash bars are universally banned in this country as a preventive measure against severe injury. Yet most our police vehicles have crash bars. Hence the importance of concurrent law enforcement without exception along with educational programmes at all levels to achieve any benefit. Lower speed limits in residential areas, car designs that are safer for pedestrians and cyclists, and random breath testing promotion. The current research, however indicate that strategies aimed a modifying driver behaviour have been less effective at reducing road deaths than seat belts and environmental changes such as crash barriers. Whatever the circumstance is, 'Human Life' is precious and as health professionals we are deeply concerned about the present day plight of road safety in our country. It is unacceptable that people are seriously injured or killed on the road. In this context, 'Vision Zero' has been launched, a global initiative to eliminate road accidents totally. Epidemiological studies of successful interventions preventing road traffic injuries have been conducted in developed countries, to assume the same effectiveness in developing countries is inappropriate because of behavioral, vehicular and environmental differences. Street lighting A pooled analysis of street lighting intervention data from developed countries shows a protective effect, particularly in pedestrian injury (relative risk 0.56), the most common road traffic injuries in the developed countries. When 87 per cent of deaths on roads are occurring in developing countries, an intervention such as street lighting if similarly applicable, would reduce deaths as much as thirty per cent potentially saving 1000 lives in Sri Lanka. Perhaps this dire situation is part and parcel of the global moral deterioration and corruption that seem to affect every strata of the present society. Yet the government is partly to be blamed for its negligence, lack of concern in the impartial and strict enforcement of laws pertaining to road safety. It is imperative that appropriate and effective strategies be adopted, at least now, to stem the tide. We must also concurrently improve our alternative transport services to relieve the burden on the roads. Our rail track has not grown an inch for the last sixty years. In fact it has shrunk. A certain section of the track that was available in the past is now closed. What is the reason for this luke warm interest in the development of our railway? Is it lack of commitment or poor profitability for the politicians? Public benefit is little concern for them as they can travel above the law in this country. Deterrent There is no effective deterrent for drivers in Sri Lanka not to commit driving offences. In the developed countries they introduce schemes of driver disqualification for specified periods if the offenders commit or accumulate a certain number of penalty points over a specified period such as one year. We need such a scheme in Sri Lanka where a driver could be disqualified from driving. This is especially important for commercial drivers. If drivers without licenses, vehicles without insurance and overloaded and unfit vehicles are summarily channelled and punished, it will immediately have a salutary effect to prevent road traffic accidents in this country. There is an urgent need to formulate an authoritative body such as a commission that would also have the power to coordinate and executive travel related projects and also prosecute government and non-government bodies defying or damaging road standards or developments. There are many ugly monuments in cities such as half built bridges, half built concrete road structures etc, that hold testimony to this. The main problem in Sri Lanka is that there is no unique governing body that would have the authority to coordinate all activities in relation to traffic movement and curtailment of accidents. This include road development, directing traffic police, traffic laws and medical services dealing with road trauma and also provision of alternative surface transport services such as trains, monorails, underground trains etc. Advice At present, each section mentioned above do their bit of work, such as road development or policing or road maintenance without any coordination. In this context we should not be ashamed to obtain international advice. There are international bodies such as Sweroad, who can offer comprehensive advice - we need not reinvent the wheel - to make our roads safe and sustainable. One major weakness we have today in Sri Lanka is lack of data identifying weaknesses unique to us. Thus, there is an essential need for constant traffic research perhaps by a unit affiliated to above proposed commission assisting them guide strategies of traffic accident prevention and curtailment in the future. We urge the readers of this article to express their views in whatever the way they can, individually or collectively, for example by talking to colleagues, writing to the media or persuading their politicians or police to take action. Your contribution in raising public awareness this way shall play a pivotal role in making the suggested improvements become a reality. Authors: CDA Goonasekera, HJ Suraweera, M Salgado. Concluded |
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News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
New legislation is required to prevent creeping. What is creeping?
Creeping should be defined as the use of the three feet safety margin kept
between a moving vehicle and the edge of the road or pavement for
overtaking from the left. Currently smaller vehicles such as
three-wheelers and cyclists use this 3 feet safety margin kept between the
edge of the road and the traffic to overtake, causing much embarrassment
to the pedestrians and also creating unexpected panic amongst other road
users.
