[Conference] An Integrated Approach To Road Safety

Victor

The NRA have a conference: "An Integrated Approach To Road Safety". http://idinmo.com/nra/index.html

Victor

I might have a ticket (for me ).

Anyone else attending?

Victor

Main points
• Vision Zero - that there be no (preventable) deaths in road accidents, like the current situation on railways and airlines.
• Run-off accidents are a major problem in Sweden and Australia (40% of deaths), in particular with vehicles hitting poles and trees. About 60% are same side of road, 40% other side of road - this means median barriers will have an effect as well as side barriers. In Ireland this type of accident involves about 100 fatal accidents per year (25%+ of deaths).
• We need to balance “forgiving roads” with the 3 Es (education, enforcement, engineering).
• “New Drivers Act” in operation in Australia, putting additional restrictions on new drivers.
• All inputs into the “road system” must contribute to a “safe system”.
• Road safety (accidents) must be treated as a disease.
• There are only 7 Road Safety Officers in the Republic, but 26 in Northern Ireland (deaths per capita 16% lower in NI).
• People will speed if they can.
• Emotions affect whether a person will speed or not.
• The 3 Es - Education, Enforcement, Engineering are insufficient. Add Evaluation, Encouragement and Effectiveness, but most of all Political Advocacy - leadership must come from the top.
• Fergal Trace is the NRA Statistician.
• EURORAP have a report “Arctic to Mediterranean” available on request from icanhelp@eurorap.net
• Road safety research is not on the agenda in Ireland - we can no longer solely depend on the research that other countries are doing.
• 75% of child seats are not fitted properly. Seats should comply with ISOFIX www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/popstds/isofix.html and EU/2003/20/EC3.
• Several countries, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland & Netherlands have legislation holding the driver responsible for accidents involving child pedestrians in residential areas. These countries have the lowest child pedestrian fatality rates in the OECD.
• http://www.esafetysupport.org/ - plan to fit every vehicle with an emergency phone system.
• Re-testing is required post conviction / ban / incident.
• National Forum for Road Safety new website to launch during March 2006 http://www.nfrs.ie/
• Bad drivers need help.
• You are twice as likely to be in an accident if you have had a speeding ticket in the last three years.
• Provide rehabilitation / training to drivers with penalty points to reduce the risk of them re-offending. Self funding and drivers can reduce the number of points they have, e.g. http://www.ttc-uk.com/pages/index.htm
• There is currently no collection of toxicology reports from coroners.
• Strong increase in recent years in the number of positive drug tests among drivers.
• There must be Coordination, Cooperation and Communication between stakeholders.
• Programmes must be funded.
• Most expenditure on road safety comes from Transport, Justice and Education departments, while the main benefits accrue to Health and Welfare departments.
• One driver was caught doing 140-150kh/h on 7 March 2006 and ticketed. 20 minutes later they were caught again doing the same speed.
• The WHO estimate, that by 2020, road safety may be as great a health problem as HIV/AIDS.
• Nearly 1,500km of 2 plus 1 road have been constructed to date in Sweden for the cost of 20km of motorway. The plan is to expand the scheme from median barriers only to include side barriers and other measures
• Crashing at 70km/h has the same effect on a human as falling from a height of 23m, yet everyone would complain if a bridge had no barriers. Crashing at 30km/h has the same effect on a human as falling from a height of 9m, yet we do not have 9m street kerbs.
• Negative public perception of older drivers fails to balance their lack of risk taking. This leads to discrimination and a block to mobility and access to services. Older people are discouraged from driving and encouraged to walk and cycle, thereby endangering themselves.
• Relatively minor accidents have serious consequences for older people. Current safety systems fail to provide for older (and very young) people.
• 2 plus 1 roads present difficulties as to where cyclists should position themselves, as hard shoulders tend to be narrow.
• Not all drivers want to speed. Even among young males, half see the speed limit as an upper limit that they are unhappy to exceed.
• Pupilometry (the study of pupil parameters under various lighting conditions) can be used to test for driver / worker impairment caused by fatigue and drugs (legal or not). It is a very useful screening test, but is insufficient as a confirmatory test, it points out that something is wrong, but not necessarily what is wrong.
• Most testing for driver impairment is focused on alcohol and fails to look at fatigue and other drugs. 20-25% of drug-impaired driving is not related to alcohol, although some drivers may have up to 5 drugs (including alcohol) in their system.
• Road safety groups, bodies or individuals working in isolation are only likely to have limited beneficial effect on road safety, in the same manner as a transportation strategy based on isolated mores of transport.

Chris_533976

Simpler solution.

1) Compulsory driving lessons
2) Abolition of Provisional Licences
3) Test at the end of the driving lessons. YOU CANNOT DRIVE ON THE ROAD WITHOUT A DRIVER TESTER/TEACHER UNTIL YOU PASS THE TEST.

BendiBus

Re driver testing and the above list, is it currently the case that a re-test is required after a ban or is it a recommendation? I've often meant to ask this.

Also, I don't know the failure rate on the driving test, but in order to even apply, a student driver should be signed off as competent by a qualified instructor first. This would increase the pass rate and reduce the time competent drivers need to wait to get their full license. Thereby helping to solve the waiting list problem without any issues with unions. It would also ensure everyone had at least one lesson from a qualified instructor, although I agree a full course should be mandatory.

robfitz

Chris_533976 wrote:

Simpler solution.

1) Compulsory driving lessons
2) Abolition of Provisional Licences
3) Test at the end of the driving lessons. YOU CANNOT DRIVE ON THE ROAD WITHOUT A DRIVER TESTER/TEACHER UNTIL YOU PASS THE TEST.

4) Retest after one year.
5) Continues retests every five years, or sooner depending on number of penalty points accrued.