State policy imperative for safer roads

Camillus R. Abeygoonewardane

MOBILITY: The traffic environment in Sri Lanka revolves between two equally compelling a needs, the necessity of mobility and necessity of safety in mobility.

Mobility is a basic human need. The right to safety in mobility should be considered by the State as a fundamental human right, as a logical extension of Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which declares “Everyone has the right to life, Liberty and Security of person”.

People’s right to safety was declared the theme of the Delhi Declaration at the 5th World Conference on Injury, Prevention and Control March 8, 2000. It was further emphasised that the provision of safety in mobility should be a facet of good government.

However, its magnitude and its horrendous consequences socially and economically have not been adequately addressed by successive governments. Safety in mobility should receive a much higher State priority in the political agenda, if we are to achieve any substantial progress in this direction.

There is an urgent and a pressing need for closer co-ordination and collaboration using a holistic and an integrated approach among all state-holders in transport and highway management. This requires a stronger political will and an honest commitment by the State.

For example in France when President Chriac made road safety a key political priority in 2002, road deaths in France dropped by 20% in 2003. Likewise State policies adopted in Australia in mid 1990s brought similar results.

In 2004 this is what Koffi Anan the UN Secretary General said on road safety “The UN has to get governments to acknowledge that there is a real problem and I think we can use the World health day to highlight the impact and also to underscore the fact that these accidents are avoidable, they are due to human errors which with proper government policy and planning can be greatly dealt with”.

Towards achieving greater safety in mobility it is incumbent for other stakeholder such as Insurers and other allied organisations to get actively involved with law enforcement authorities in working out strategies and by structuring insurance policies to enhance road safety. Such programs done by the Insurers in Australia in mid 1990s had effectively brought the desired results and indirectly the Insurers became the ultimate beneficiaries.

What does it cost the world and the nation?

According to WHO statistics over 1.3 million people die in road traffic accidents worldwide annually, and on an average over 3,000 people are killed every 24 hours. According to the same source approximately 80% of all fatalities occur in Middle and Low income countries. Globally over 50 million people are injured in road accidents; here too a similar pattern is observed.

In Sri Lanka, according to statistics compiled by the police, the year 2005 recorded 2,141 fatal accidents killing 2,306 persons. In the same year, 4,998 were seriously injured and 14,376 received minor injuries.

The year 2005 also recorded 43,171 road accidents Islandwide, compared to 53,458 in 2004. This reduction is no reason to rejoice. The 19% drop is due to new Insurance procedures where damage only accidents are settled directly through Insurers without having to reporting them at police stations.

According to sources at University of Moratuwa, the economic cost to the country due to road accidents is in the range of Rs. 15 billion and urban congestion is a staggering Rs. 25 billion. This is approximately 1.5% of the country’s GDP.

Roads are less safe today

According to a study done by the University of Moratuwa in the period 1977 to date shows that the risk a Sri Lankan faces on our roads has doubled over the years. It also confirms that road fatalities as a ratio of all deaths show that the risk factor for Sri Lankan’s in 1970’s was 1:116. It is presently in the range 1:51.

This risk factor of a road death may further rise by the year 2020 to 1:25 unless some meaningful steps are taken by the State and relevant agencies to address this gigantic problem.

In high income countries there is a remarkable relationship between road fatalities and sociological and economic factors. A similar trend is perceptible in Sri Lanka as well, even though it is not a high income country. For example, death due to a road accident in high income countries is around I road death in 25 deaths.

The reason for this increasing trend in deaths and injuries is clearly related to behavioral factors such as,

(a) The increase in mobility with increased incomes

(b) The shift from comparatively safer modes of travel such as public transport to less safer modes of private transport (especially motor cycles, mopeds, three-wheelers and pedal cycles)

(c) The increased desire to travel and the avialbility and affordability of speedier modes of travel

Road accidents in Sri Lanka (2005)

According to statistics maintained by the police 43,171 road accidents have been recorded Islandwide. Of them 2,141 were fatal while 4,998 persons received grievous injuries and 14,376 were non grievous. Damage only accidents accounted for 21,686. Accidents are caused or are influenced by a number of factors of which the most prevalent is the human factor.

Category		2004		2005		%
Pedestrians 		748		747		32.39
M.C.riders		385		406		17.61
P/riders		112		126		5.46
Pedal Cyclist		298		326		14.14
Drivers			194		178		7.72
Passengers		381		428		18.56
Others			 96	         95		4.12
Total			2,214		2,306		100%

	(Road deaths by user)

This is further compounded by our road systems which do not cater sufficiently to desired safety standards and this contributes greatly to the rising road accidents. Most often accident investigators place the blame squarely on the drivers without realising the contribution made by the road environment and other factors.

The rapid increase in vehicle and road usage is another factor to reckon with for the rapid increase in accidents. It must also be admitted that our road user behaviour has yet to be moulded and adapted to suit the demands of modern road use.

There is also a lamentable lack of safety conscious road behaviour towards others by the vast majority of road users, notably the drivers of motor vehicles.

Who dies?

Traditionally over the years pedestrians remain the highest victims in road accidents. In the next category are motorcycle riders and pillion riders and pedal cyclists follow next. These three categories are the most vulnerable road user.

They will continue to remain vulnerable in our country so long as factors affecting them are not adequately addressed by the relevant authorities. Together these three categories accounted to approximately 70% of road fatalities in 2005.

Weekend road accidents

Accident statistics for the year 2005 as well as previous years indicate a new trend, i.e. high rate of road accidents over weekends. These had also occurred in Police Divisions where (A class) roads are located. Statistics for the year 2005 further revealed that the highest number of fatal accidents (335) and the next highest (316) had occurred on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

When comparing accidents by day of the week there is only a marginal difference between weekdays and weekends. This demands the presence and vigilance of the Police in such divisions throughout the week.

It is therefore incumbent on law enforcement authorities to engage in intensive enforcement strategies in these Divisions in a uniform manner both covertly and overtly such as using unmarked police cars, high-tech enforcement methods such as speed cameras and red light cameras in addition to present hand held radar guns.

They should also engage in selective and targeted law enforcement programs in these localities. Their action programs should receive adequate publicity both in the print and electronic media to draw the road user’s awareness to the risk of being apprehended.

Their focus should be on offences that have a direct bearing on road accidents such as - dangerous speeding and overtaking, aggressive driving, driving without due care and consideration for other users, changing direction without signals and drink driving offences at all times. It is also timely that traffic policemen resort to mobile enforcement to detect moving violations rather than detecting offenders from static positions.

A strategy for safer roads

There are three clear options for policy makers to follow in response to this increasing trend of road traffic accidents,

1) Accept road accidents as an inevitable outcome of an over burdened road traffic system and give other social problems priority over road safety.

2) The next option is to continue with the present practices, which are by and large ad-hoc and curative. Such measures at best will be confined to rehabilitating and upgrading a few existing roads, intensifying law enforcement from time to time and applying marginal safety measures on resources made available.

This at best is a coping mechanism but not an approach which addresses the root causes of the problem. In Sri Lanka it is evident that these measures have not been adequate to even contain the problem, the increasing trend of road accidents is a clear indication of this. Or

3) Adopt a pro active and preventive approach in which safer roads and mobility is given a high priority. It would incorporate safety designs and safety features in road planning so that risk of accidents is drastically reduced. The road environment should be such that it would reduce conflicts between motorised traffic and non motorised traffic to a level that they could cope with.

Therefore, there is a greater need for road planners, engineers, enforcement agencies and safety organisations to direct their attention and resources to safeguard the interest of vulnerable road users by proper road design with in built safety features, proper lighting, signs and markings and sidewalks.

The present emphasis is to cater to increasing the quality of road ways to serve the volume and velocity of motor vehicles. There is an urgent need to enhance the safety of pedestrians and cyclists by safeguarding and shielding them from fast moving traffic.

It is imperative to adopt systems and features which drastically reduce the probability of road accidents by tackling the root causes leading to road accidents; this is best done by eliminating the potential for conflicts between different road users that prevails in the present road system.

The Dutch example

A novel program of road safety was launched in the early ‘70s in the Netherlands. It was called “the sustainable safety strategy”. This strategy is characterised by a proactive and preventive methodology in contrast to the earlier approach which was reactive and curative.

The sustainable safety strategy has become a high priority policy issue of the Dutch Nation and State, irrespective of changes in government. The strategy takes the road user - the human being as the reference standard. It recognises that in nearly 90% or more of road accidents human error is a direct or a contributory factor.

In other words it acknowledges that the human being is the weakest as well as the most vulnerable link in the traffic and transport systems. The modern road systems make unprecedented and unrealisable demands on human beings - their abilities and their capacity to function effectively in complex and confusing situations.

The present road conditions compel human beings to make serious mistakes often with fatal consequences. Therefore it becomes incumbent on road planners and road authorities and others responsible for safety to provide a traffic and transport environment to suite the needs and the abilities of the people who use them.

Such an environment would enable them to behave correctly and safely in a complex situation at a given moment, rather than expect them to behave correctly relying solely on a system of penalties to enforce compliance with road rules and traffic regulations.

Research done in Netherlands also proves the safest roads are the motorway and expressways. Although driving speeds are the highest on these roads, the relatively uniform speeds, the segregated direction of traffic flow, homogenous traffic and absence of intersections and pedestrian movement lower the severity of accidents.

On the other hand urban arterial roads with mix traffic, intersecting roads and speed differences make roads more hazardous.

Conclusion

From a macro planning perspective, the sustainable road safety strategy is about the ideal method to achieve the goal for safer roads. This goal can no longer be regarded as the sole responsibility of traffic experts and the traffic police.

Every segment of the society from road authorities, researchers, sociologists, policy makers, politicians, town and urban planners and the civil society should play their role to promote safer roads.

More importantly the civil society needs to be galvanised and mobilised to the enormous threat to life and limb on our roads. This needs to become part of the civil rights discourse in our country.

There are some people who believe that the end of the world is imminent. I do not regard myself a Prophet of doom, but we must introduce a comprehensive traffic and transport policy so that the motor vehicle will be a less destructive at least for our future generations.

Otherwise all I can foresee (as predicted by Zucamann) is that we are nearing the end of the road. The question is whether we wish to carry on regardless of the great catastrophe that awaits us? The answer lies with all of us.

(The writer is a Former D.I.G. Traffic and a member of the Association of Chiefs of Police SL)