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| Introduction.
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Much progress has been made over the years in the different
aspects of road
safety. There were just as many people being killed on the roads decades ago when there
was less than one tenth of the traffic on the roads as there are today... but
there are no 'quantum leaps' in the pipeline... just more of the same... steady
progress on a number of different fronts. While it is vitally important
than progress continues in all aspects of road safety... it is our view... that if you really want to make a significant reduction in the number of
road fatalities... then you need to approach the problem in a 'Radical and
Innovative' new way. That means you have to get to grips with the
tricky problem of drivers... their Attitudes... and their Behaviour. |
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| If you only continue in the same old ways... the
results will be a forgone conclusion!
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This section takes a more in-depth look at
present Strategies... their successes... and some of their limitations. |
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Education.
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Training standards... and methods do vary a great deal
from one country to the next... but however good it may be... there is a limit to
what can be achieved in the initial period... because as soon as a young driver is let
loose on the roads an awful lot of that training will go 'straight out the
window'. [Research has shown that higher standards of training have a
positive effect initially... but any benefits will have been negated within 6-12
months.]
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Within this period... two other dominant influences will come into
affect... their
'Peers'... and the general 'Road Culture'. They will be a lot more concerned
about what their Peers think of their driving than anything they've been reading in a
book or taught in a class. They also start to copy the things they see others doing out on the
roads...
very often the bad things. It's not that they don't know what is expected
of them... or that they have forgotten... the sight of a Police car in the rear view
mirror... and instantly ever law is being obeyed to the letter.
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For many
young drivers... these first few years are a very dangerous period in their
lives... where the
possibility of being involved in an accident is high: [5-10 times higher than an
experienced driver.] They have an unrealistic view of their driving
capabilities... a tendency to take risks... an inclination to try and impress their
friends...
which may lead them to try and drive faster than anyone else... and all at a time when
they possess poor 'hazard awareness' skills. This can prove to be a fatal
combination!
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Becoming experienced
can only be done with years/miles of 'Practice'... but drivers also need some
objective 'Feedback'. Essentially... they need to be kept on a short
leash so they never get the opportunity to develop into high-risk drivers.
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| At
present... the opportunities to receive
'Unbiased Feedback' from
other drivers is limited... abusive remarks and obscene hand gestures usually fail
to get the message across... however well intentioned they may be! |
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After passing... their initial driving test... drivers should go into a distinctive second
phase of learning: [a Probationary period] so as to increase their chances of
gaining experience in safety. If there was a problem... then the sooner it
was
identified and rectified the better it would be for everyone. [See
'Licences'.]
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A whole range... of 'Educational' Strategies... could be called on to ensure drivers
developed to an acceptable standard, starting with... 'Feedback' from experienced
drivers... 'Inserts' about particular offences which had been reported... and a whole
range of 'Courses' dealing with such things as... substance abuse: speeding: and
aggression: or more driving 'Instruction' in order to 'iron
out' any specific problems which had been identified.
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| Ultimately... the best way to ensure a lower accident
rate
is by developing a higher standard of driving right across the board... which is
not an easy thing to achieve. Even those who have been driving for many years
may have picked up some bad habits that others find very annoying... and these
will not be rectified by bombarding every driver with the same
simplistic messages... education must be relevant to the individual: [Road
Supervisors' Reports: plus educational Inserts: would help to address this
problem... specific driver with a specific problem... identified!]
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Practice and Feedback. Generally, all drivers should be encouraged to review their driving technique
and their 'attitudes' towards others... there would almost certainly be some room for
improvement: [this can be done by purchasing a book on the subject or attending
a course for Advanced drivers.] Take almost any other activity: like... Golf:
Tennis: or Skiing: and even the top professionals undertake coaching, as well as practice, in order to
achieve a high standard... but for some reason driver education seems to have
disregarded this process in favour of experience alone. For many drivers their last experience of formal
'driver education' ended on the day they passed their driving test... but
'learning' should be considered a life long endeavour... and receiving 'Feedback'
from other drivers should be considered as just another way of developing and
improving.
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Possessing a driver's licence should not be viewed simply as a Right... it is
also a Responsibility... and one that needs to be taken very seriously! |
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Engineering. |
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This covers many aspects of construction on the Roads
and the Vehicles that travel along them. On both Roads and Vehicles the
built-in safety features can account for a large part of the total cost.
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| Roads. |
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Building a National Road Network is a very
expensive and complicated task which involves building many aspects of road
safety into the system, such as... Crash Barriers: Road Markings: Road Signs:
Junction Layouts: Traffic Lights: Pedestrian Crossings: and Bicycle Lanes. |
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An enormous amount of money is being spent just on building speed humps on
thousands of residential streets to slow
down those few drivers who just won't drive sensibly... [causing congestion, pollution,
excessive wear and tear on vehicles, delays to emergency vehicles] it would be much better for
everyone... and much cheaper... to find
some other way of
slowing this minority down. |
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Road Layouts: Markings: and Signage... often need fine tuning: [even after many
years use] to alleviate problems that
regularly occur. While all the local
drivers who regularly use a route might know there is a particular hold up: or
dangerous situation: that
develops every morning in the same place... the people who make the decisions
about road layouts might be completely
unaware that the problem even exists. A mechanism needs to be put in place
where these issues can easily be raised and discussed by ordinary people and then brought to the attention of the relevant
authorities. [See Road Supervisors' Branch
Meetings.] |
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| The
Bottom Line is... that although safe road construction is desirable... it
is quite possible for people to drive safely on the poorest standards of
road... and it is quite possible to drive very dangerously on the highest
standard of road. What really make the difference is how the drivers
choose to behave under any given circumstance.
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| Vehicles.
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The construction of vehicles has
changed a tremendous amount over the years. Back in the 1960s you could
see cars which just had some relatively minor damage on the outside but the
inside would be covered in the blood of seriously injured people. These
days you can see pictures of vehicles which are so badly damaged that it doesn't
seem possible anyone could have survived and yet people can sometimes walk away
with just a few cuts and bruises. This is due to passive safety features:
such as... Seat Belts: Airbags: SIPS: and Crumple Zones.
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The one downside to this is the fact that... the safer a driver feels... the more
blasé they become about having an accident: [which may explain the reputation
of Volvo drivers??] too many allow themselves to become distracted by such things
as... their Music: Mobile Phones: Eating: Drinking: and Talking to their
Passengers... or
will even drive home from work on 'automatic pilot'. All these safety
features may be very good for car drivers but they do absolutely nothing for
Pedestrians: Cyclists: or Motorbike Riders... they remain extremely vulnerable to
any driver's lapse of concentration. Overall... accident rates may increase
while the fatality rate remains static or even falls.
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A concerted effort needs to be made to ensure that
accidents do not happen in the first place... rather than just being able to
survive them... and some aspects of vehicle construction are aimed at this: for
instance... Modern Tyres: Traction Control: and Anti-lock Braking Systems:
[A.B.S.]
all help a driver to maintain control over a vehicle in difficult or emergency
situations... but again... many of the gains are instantly cancelled out because as
drivers feel they have more control they simply reduce their Margins of Error.
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| Give a driver a car that corners
better and they will drive around corners quicker... if it has better brakes they
will travel a bit closer to the vehicle in front. What the driver
perceives to be their own personal 'Margins of Error' remains the same... technical
improvements do not necessarily translate into the equivalent safety improvements.
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All this technology is great when it is
working but
those drivers
who do not register their vehicles properly... will often not bother with ensuring that their
vehicles are roadworthy either... they will literally drive them into the
ground...
spending the absolute minimum on them and leave them discarded at the side of
the road when they are no longer any use... leaving others to clear up the mess.
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| Future Technology will continue to make a difference but the
day when Technology is sophisticated enough to take away complete control from
the driver and physically prevent accidents is still a thing of the future.
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| Legislation. |
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Changing Laws can save lives... but in our view... the major
problem is drivers flouting existing laws... effective 'Enforcement' is what is
really
required. When enforcing Legislation... what exactly is the 'Measure
of Success'? Each measure that is imposed and enforced has the potential to do something
good or something bad for each individual... so a balance needs to be found.
[New Labour seem to be very keen on passing new Laws... and handing out
Fines to the law-abiding majority... and strangely reluctant to do
anything to enforce those Laws against those who wilfully break them.]
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| Article.
Have
the wheels fallen off traffic enforcement? — Positive
influence of driver behaviour requires both "the carrot and the
stick," and enforcement threat is the sharp end of the stick.
Research has shown that the chances of getting caught are much more
important than the size of the penalty in shaping driver behaviour. [More
Articles] Note... This
article shows how people look to the level of fines and convictions
as a measure of commitment to road safety by the Authorities.
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Six categories of Failure. Here we
lay out six different categories... as an individual you would not wish to become a
'Statistic' of any of them... because they would all have an adverse effect on your
life. So... [for the purpose of this exercise] the view we are taking
is... there
are no real Measures of Success... only 'Measures of Failure'.
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Accidents.
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| * Injuries.
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| * Deaths.
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| * Fines.
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| * Driving Bans.
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| * Imprisonment.
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| As a driver
looking to the decade ahead... can any of us say which of us will be affected by
each of these six categories? Would you be happy to trade a slightly lower
chance of having an Accident for a much higher chance of losing your driver's
licence [and possibly your livelihood with it?] Whatever the Authorities may
say...
handing out millions of Fines to their own Citizens cannot really be considered a
'Success'... a low
rate of Fines: Driving Bans: and Imprisonment: should be a goal... just as low rates
of Accidents: Injuries: and Deaths are... and that means finding ways to make
everyone comply with the rules we already have!
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| There is a limit
to what you can achieve by simply passing more and more Laws.
Driving while using a mobile phone has been banned... this may be followed
by bans on cigarettes, food, drink, changing CD's, using sat-nav...
basically doing anything that could cause a distraction. Using any
of those mentioned could be very dangerous... could be perfectly safe...
or anywhere in between... depending on the context in which it is
done. Many people manage to do all of these things... on a daily
basis... literally, for decades... without it ever creating a
danger. When you pass Laws on all these issues... the end result
is... you will hand out loads of Fines to sensible people doing perfectly
reasonable things... but you won't stop stupid people from doing dangerous
things. The Authorities seem to think that the more power they have
the better things will be. Basically, they want to pass Laws on
everything... then use technology to monitor, control and punish you in
very efficient ways... all for your own good!
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| The true
'Measure of Success' should be
in creating a more 'Law abiding Society'... rather than handing out more
'Punishments' of any kind! and that means getting a grip on the
serious problem of 'illegal drivers'. This is one of the main objectives of The Road Supervisors' Network.
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Enforcement. |
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This is by far the most contentious issue as far as Road
Safety is concerned...
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- If every minor infraction of the Law is rigorously enforced by the State then everyone starts to feel
persecuted: [Tyranny!]
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- If
they're not... then the whole 'Road Culture' may deteriorate into a dangerous
free-for-all with increasing rates of Accidents: [Anarchy!]
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- What is
required is a mechanism whereby a large number of ordinary citizen are
given a small role to play in upholding the Law... thereby creating a more law-abiding
Society: [Democracy!]
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Effective
Enforcement. Most industrialised countries have some kind
of a system to check that vehicles are in a roadworthy
condition.
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- There will be absolutely endless examples of
relatively new, well maintained vehicles being refused a new
'certificate' because it has some minor fault... like a cracked tail
light.
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- [O.K. fair enough!] but what good is that when you have
significant numbers of 'Death Traps' tearing around the roads which
never come in for an Inspection... no
effective brakes: virtually bald tyres: worn steering: etc. etc.
etc.
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- Often these vehicles have no insurance and
are registered at a false address: [which enables them to park where they like: break speed limits:
etc. knowing that any fines will never catch up with them.]
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In far too many instances those who try and stay within the law are
penalised... while
habitual law-breakers drive around... sometimes literally... 'getting away with murder'!
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The Police.
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The Police are at the forefront of enforcement, but are relatively few in
number... and by their own admission... see only a tiny fraction of what actually
happens on the roads. Their presence has what is known as a 'Halo' effect
around them... as soon as drivers see their patrol vehicles they are instantly on
their best behaviour... but as soon as they turn off... bad behaviour
resumes.
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| Both the Police and Speed
Cameras will provoke an instant reaction... [which you don't want] but no
long-term improvements [which you do want.] The intention of Road Supervisors is for them to
act as the eyes and ears of their local Police Force... to share some of
the burden and responsibility for safety on the roads... and to act as a deterrent
for bad behaviour... extending this 'Halo' effect so that drivers are on their
best behaviour whenever they find themselves Interacting with other road users:
[no instant reactions... but plenty of long-term improvements.]
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| Technology.
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The development of Technology opens up new possibilities for the way
Societies are organised and run... including the way that a Nation's highways
are 'Policed'. The current trend seems to be for the 'State' to try and increasingly
centralise control... while the ordinary Citizen slowly becomes more and more
powerless... even
including the Police officers out on the road who find their own powers of
discretion being taken away... this is a trend that badly needs to be reversed!
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Generally... new
Technology should be used in such a way as to give the ordinary Citizen more
control over their lives not less... and specifically... it should be used to
harness the skills and knowledge of experienced drivers... rather than treating
them all as a problem that needs to be brought under control. [See...
'New Technologies for the Roads'.]
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| Experienced
Drivers. If an experienced driver has just completed 10: 20: 30: years without causing
an Accident... then it is fairly certain there will be very little in need of
fundamental change... these drivers are not a problem! they are an asset! and
need to be recognised as such. |
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Its Effectiveness. |
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| Like a speed camera it deals with one issue only...
that is exceeding a speed limit. There is a whole range of offences that
drivers can commit while remaining under the speed limit which this has no
effect on. |
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Safety. |
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| A system that can take control
but accepts no responsibility for the consequences! Who would really wish to find themselves in the position of
overtaking a large truck... running out of space... and having their fuel cut at the
vital moment? By suddenly taking control of a vehicle away from the
driver... this system is just as likely to cause an accident as prevent one. If
the system was only 'advisory', then the worst offenders would just ignore
any warnings given to them and carry on as before. Either way... not
an ideal situation! |
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Cost. |
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| The intention of the manufacturers is that this system should be
fitted to all vehicles... at a cost of... anything from £3-4,000
[U.S.$5,000]
each... down to £1-200 each... depending on the system.
The problem is just a very small minority of serious offenders who needlessly
put peoples' lives at risk... 'Everyone', is not the problem! So why should
'Everyone' be burdened with these additional costs! |
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Who.
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| Introduce a system like this and who would go to the trouble and expense of
complying with it? Well, as usual most of the law-abiding majority... but
what about the rest? the habitual law-breakers! If it's at all
possible to get out of it they will... either they won't fit the system... or
after fitting it will be disconnected... or they will put something over the
sensor/transmitter... or the vehicle will be registered under a
false name and address. As with many other
laws... it is effective against
those who are not the problem in the first place... and totally useless against
those who really need to be kept under control. |
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| Philosophically... |
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the latest Technology... but just like the speed camera... it is nothing more than an
'idiot box'. Modern Technology should be used in such a way as to harness
the skills and experience of the people who use the system... and not as a way of
overriding that experience.
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| 'Big Brother'.
This would
truly be the 'Big Brother' nightmare being
put into practice... with an ever expanding network of cameras and satellites... the all powerful
'State' slowly gets an ever tighter grip on the daily
lives of its Citizens. And yet... it is widely predicted that such a system
could be in use right across the E.U. within the next decade.
If you would like to see an alternative system put into the public
domain [for discussion] which empowers the Individual rather than
the State...
then help us to devise
a better Plan... look at the 'Help
us' section... or make a 'Donation'.
Opinion? leave a Comment
by E-mail. |
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| We are certainly not against the
use of Global Positioning Satelite [G.P.S.] Technology... it could have huge
benefits in gathering and disseminating Information about...
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| * Navigation.
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| * Traffic
Congestion.
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| * Road Conditions:
[i.e. Speed Limits: Accident Black
Spots: etc.]
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| * Theft Prevention... and the like.
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| This is the kind of
Technology that will allow problems to be dealt with in radically new
ways... we do not see it as a question of whether it should be used... only of how best to use it.
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| Link...
Systems Trials are underway in Britain and the
Netherlands. Previously... trials were carried out in four different
towns in Sweden... using four variations of a system known as
”Intelligent Speed Adaptation”... click to read Details
from
their own website. |
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| Speed Camera Detectors.
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| There is... not
surprisingly... a
fast growing market for a whole range of Speed Camera Detectors... costing
anything from £200-£600, [U.S.$350-$900.] which work by picking up the
signals sent out by these various speed machines... and some are also
programmed to use GPS Technology... so that it knows it is approaching a
permanently fixed camera position... and gives a warning to the driver.
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In some Countries these may be illegal... as the prevailing argument has been
that these are just a rich man's toy which enables them to get around
legal speed restrictions: i.e. it is a device which helps people break the
law. In the U.K. the prevailing argument
has been that speed cameras should be made highly visible and have warning
signs on approach to try and make drivers slow down... rather than catch them
breaking the law. Therefore... these devices only help to make this
strategy more effective by giving an additional warning. It is not
hard to see a certain amount of validity in both sides of this argument.
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| Road Angels.
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| Another more sophisticated
device being marketed in the U.K. is called a 'Road Angel'... which detects
speed cameras but is also programmed to warn drivers when they are
approaching known Accident Black Spots. These 'Road Angels' make use
of the latest GPS [Global Positioning Satelite] Technology so as to give
drivers a visual and audible warning as they approach a variety of
hazards... which is marketed as something which can protect your life... and
your licence.
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| We believe that this is the type of Technology which
should be encouraged... something which supplies the driver with additional
Information about road conditions... and enables them to make responsible
decisions... but does not take control of the vehicle away from the
driver. This system could be aided by the Road Supervisors' scheme
because 'Reporting' Black Spots would also be identified... and drivers could
be alerted with more detailed Information about a far greater range of
hazards.
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| The legality and
quality of
speed detectors varies enormously... so if you're thinking of buying one we
strongly recommend you do your homework first... so you know exactly what
you're buying. You should not take all the claims made in sales
literature at face value... some of it is, to say the least... 'stretching the
truth' a bit. [Check out a huge range of devices at the following
websites...
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| Medical. |
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In the industrialised world we tend to take good
medical care for granted... especially in emergency situations... where professional
help usually arrives on the scene very quickly. In many developing
countries help tends to arrive slowly... and sometimes not at all... emergency
situations being dealt with by the local people... or anyone on the spot.
Many people will end up having limbs amputated... dying from their injuries... or
the trauma... because medical assistance was not readily available. |
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| We in the
modern industrialised world have much to thank the Medical professions for... they
have made a tremendous contribution down the years... saved countless lives... and
will undoubtedly continue to do so in the future. |
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| The Bottom Line
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| There are many
new technologies in the pipeline... most aiming to provide the State with
a more efficient way of... monitoring, controlling or punishing
drivers. But the day where a vehicle can take control and drive
itself still seems a very long way off. There have been programmes
where vehicles are driven fast and close controlled by computers... but
this only works if you have 100% control of all the vehicles and all of
the road environment. This is absolutely miles from having a vehicle
that can drive down a busy city street... can recognise everything... can
understand everything... can anticipate all the possibilities of what
might happen in an instant... and take appropriate action. That's
what drivers do... that is what technology is not very good at... so for
the foreseeable future safety will remain the responsibility of the
driver.
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