Curbing road accidents: A long term solution

There are three major factors causing road accidents namely human error, conditions of infrastructure and defective motor vehicles.

More often than not, the public has been led to believe that speeding and poor state of the roads are the only reasons accidents occur.

However, there many causes of motor accidents mainly they include speeding while driving and reckless driving: Failing to follow the speed limit is the most common cause of traffic accidents in the country; others are use of mobile phone – texting while driving: The proliferation of mobile phone use has resulted an increased level of danger on our roads.
It is important that national and state legislatures should pass strict anti texting laws.

There are numerous types of distracted driving. Some of the most common types of distractions resulting in high incidences of traffic accidents include, eating, smoking, listening to loud music or changing the dial, reaching for objects in the vehicle, and looking or talking with other passengers in the vehicle.

Driver fatigue – falling asleep in the wheel is another factor. Also drunk driving – and driving while under the Influence of a narcotic substance: According to studies driving while under the influence of alcohol results in a 900 per cent increase in the probability of an auto accident.

Rubbernecking is another type of distracted driving and takes place when drivers look other things on the road not linked to their driving. examples include watching other accidents, looking at sunsets, and nice views.

Defective automobile and automobile parts – Common auto defects that can cause severe injuries to occupants include, tire defects, seatbelt defects and defective airbags. Defects on roadway construction – The improper design of roadways result in hundreds of auto accident fatalities each year.

Also poor weather conditions pose the greatest dangers to motorists on the road including, icy roads rain after a prolonged drought resulting in oily surfaces.

We therefore hail the nationwide campaign to monitor traffic police and motorists who solicit and give bribes which had started with immediate effect and that legal action would be taken against those who would be found engaging in graft.

The campaign targets to reduce road accidents by 10 per cent and is to be carried out by the Police Force, Ministry of Home Affairs and Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra).

According to the mechanism anyone found either soliciting or receiving a bribe will be placed under custody and will not be afforded the option of paying a fine for his or her offence.

Statistics show that since 2012 the number of road accidents had increased from 23,578 per year and reached 23,842 in 2013. In 2014, there was a slight decrease in road accidents to 14,360 only. The number of deaths was 3,969 in 2012 and rose by 1,043 deaths in 2013, but fell to 3,760 in 2014.

It is equally important that the government should provide road safety training to students, members of the traffic police and drivers, including bodaboda riders in order to curb the increasing number of road accidents.