Re-thinking global road safety

Everywhere, but particularly in the developing world because of the higher risks, we must maintain vehicles as if they were planes. We must also drive them as carefully as the most careful pilot would fly.

Protection Another assumption which is important to challenge is that our vehicle ‘protects’ us. Somehow drivers feel invulnerable behind the steering wheel and the powerful engine. In fact the opposite is true. If you are in collision with another vehicle it is your own vehicle that will harm you. The steering column will pierce your chest and, if the impact is hard enough, the engine will crush you. It is your own common sense and awareness that protects you, not the vehicle you are travelling in.

Simple solutions, such as using seat belts in cars and wearing helmets when riding motor cycles and bicycles, will improve your chances of survival following a collision.

High speeds Another assumption is that only high speed kills or injures. Ask someone who believes this to hit the back of their hand on a rough wall at 20 km an hour. They will not do it. Deep down they know that an impact of 20 km an hour will be dangerous and hurt them. But once behind that steering wheel, all such instinctive understanding seems to vanish.

IMPROVE ADVOCACY

We must advocate for big improvements in road safety, including vehicle maintenance and driving skills. Advocacy for improved road safety is weak compared to other issues such as HIV and malaria. Even advocacy for issues such as forced marriages and guinea worm, that affect far fewer people, is much better organised that it is for road safety. The World Health Organisation campaigns against road deaths and injuries, arguing that they are a major threat to global health and well-being, and would benefit from more support.

IMPROVE THINKING

As well as more forceful advocacy, we need more and better thinking. People laugh now when they learn that someone used to run in front of the early cars with a red flag to warn people that a car was coming. But there was a serious reason behind it. A car coming down the road was extremely dangerous. The horn is probably the direct descendent of the red flag – it should be used to warn people ahead of potential situations. Even though, in many African countries, drivers are compelled by law to have one, it is almost never used for the benefit of other road users. Many people use it to show how angry they are after an incident has happened! Therefore, the horn becomes part of the problem and is no help in the solution.

When we have changed our assumptions and decided what we will and will not tolerate by way of vehicle-related death and injury, it will actually be quite easy to do the training and the maintenance.

Barry Coleman is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Riders for Health.

Riders for Health is an award-winning social enterprise dedicated to the effective management of vehicles used for delivering health care in hostile conditions. For more information: http://www.riders.org/

3 New Street, Daventry, Northamptonshire, NN11 4BT, United Kingdom.

Tel: +44 (0)1327 300 047
Fax: +44 (0)1327 308 760
Email: [email protected]

Basic vehicle safety

• always wear a seat belt 
• obey the speed limits and do not drive too close to the vehicle in front
• do not use a mobile phone whilst driving
• do not drive after having consumed alcohol 
• slow down when driving near pedestrians, animals and cyclists 
• carry out regular maintenance checks