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Road Safety and the Internet: a 21st Century Solution?
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| Dateline: Guildford, Surrey, UK. XX/XX/XXXX |
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RoadSupervisors.net has been developing a radical and innovative concept
which they claim could significantly reduce the current level of Road
Accidents by utilising the power of the Internet. The promotional phase of
this concept is now being launched as part of an online, interactive
Project, where any interested parties will be able to offer their
comments, opinions and ideas.
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The basic concept is similar to the various 'How's my driving?' type
schemes which have been in operation around the world for some time.
Basically: see an offence, take down the details, phone in a report. Some
of these schemes have managed to reduce accident rates by 20% or more,
despite some very obvious weaknesses in the system: i.e. there is no
control over who reports, no consistency to the Information gathered, no
central collection point for data and no particular strategies for using
the Information.
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As this type of system has already proven to be successful, a logical
extension of this would be to create a 21st century version using the
latest technology. An official scheme that covered everyone. Experienced,
pre-registered drivers could fill in detailed reports online. Gather
consistent, accurate Information. Collect at a central processing point.
Then disseminate that Information in a variety of ways.
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The objective would be to raise the overall standard of driving and to
target the most serious and persistent offenders. The more a driver was
reported, the more the pressure would increase for them to modify their
behaviour. RoadSupervisors.net has been developing a whole range of
strategies based on, Motivation, Deterrents, Targeted Education, Social
Pressure, Enforcement and Punishment.
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Motivation:
more drivers could be encouraged to improve their driving and
maintain a higher standard of behaviour, especially if given a definite
reason for doing so, like becoming part of a 'Road Supervisor' type
scheme.
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Deterrent:
others would simply be deterred from the worst excesses of
behaviour, knowing that their chances of being reported would be very high
with so many Road Supervisors about.
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Targeted Education:
the best way to improve at any activity is to combine
practise with feedback. Practise improves through experience. Feedback
fine tunes a person's skills. Reports sent to a driver would let them know
exactly what they were doing wrong. Specially printed leaflets, relevant
to every offence mentioned, would let them know what they should be doing
in the future.
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Social Pressure:
could be used by making Information readily accessible
over the Internet to those who were in 'Positions of Influence'. Simply
click on to a website, type in the driver's licence number and see how
many times they had been reported and for what. Those drivers who did not
voluntarily alter their behaviour might be pressured into making changes
by their own Family, their Employer, their Insurance company: etc.
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Enforcement:
special Review Panels could be set up to deal with those
drivers who were clearly unable or unwilling to change through their own
efforts. Having the power to assess, re-educate, re-train, monitor,
suspend or demote any 'high-risk' drivers as required.
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Punishment:
must always be an option, especially when dealing with those
serious offenders who have caused death or injury because of reckless
behaviour. Ideally, various forms of punishment would be the final option,
when all else fails, rather than the first and only option.
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A spokesman for RoadSupervisors.net said: "the object of this
exercise is just to show that new technology can be used to empower road
users... rather than simply providing more efficient ways for 'The State'
to monitor, control and punish them."
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"At present, the biggest single problem is driver behaviour. More
than 90% of accidents are due to some kind of driver error. A high
proportion of these are the result of a pattern of high-risk behaviour
which has been allowed to develop unchecked, over a period of time, rather
than a one-off, genuine mistake. While drivers may be the biggest problem,
they also need to be an integral part of the solution."
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According to RoadSupervisors.net: "Good driving is not simply about
the strict observance of every rule. It is the ability to 'Interact' with
other road users in a way that is consistently safe, considerate and
courteous. Technology cannot make these objective assessments about
complex human interaction, but our greatest untapped asset, experienced
drivers, can."
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The Road Supervisors Network was founded by Andrew Macnamara. |
| The website gives full details of this
Road Safety Concept. Includes numerous articles... covering many different aspects of the driving
experience... with
the emphasis on using technology as a means of empowering ordinary
citizens.
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| Website: http://www.RoadSupervisors.net
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| Contact: awmacnamara@aol.co.uk
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| Mobile: 07804 352893 |
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