The Sunday Mail
For the next two weeks, a flood of national and religious public holidays defines a “festive season” for many, but for some it will be a time of grief and mourning for family members killed in avoidable road accidents.
Almost all road accidents are avoidable, while almost all are caused by human error.
If drivers, cyclists and pedestrians did not make mistakes, then there would be hardly any accidents and probably no deaths.
Road safety experts stress four main causes of accidents — alcohol, speeding, jumping red lights and stop signs, and unsafe overtaking.
Sometimes all four are involved in a single accident.
Perhaps the best summary of the four is arrogance and impatience, an arrogant belief that the law and the Highway Code are inhibitive and for other people, an impatience that sees unacceptable risks being taken.
Alcohol is the most insidious of the causes. Research around the world is conclusive: more than two drinks significantly impair judgment without the drinker being aware of this.
In fact, when they have had a few beers, some drivers feel super confident about their abilities.
Countries that rigidly enforce their drink and drive laws find they can halve their death toll compared to an almost identical country that does not enforce these laws strictly.
It is a pity that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) do not have the equipment for frequent on-the-spot testing of all drivers.
Breathalysers are not that expensive.
Speed is another major killer.
Not only does it take a vehicle to the limits but more importantly it drastically increases the amount of energy and so the subsequent forces in an accident.
Energy is proportional to the square of the velocity, so if you double your speed there is four times as much energy to dissipate in an accident; if you triple your speed there is eight times as much.
This is why a serious city centre accident can produce lots of dents and broken glass but few injuries, while the identical accident done at speed on main roads in the outer suburbs or a national highway fills the nearest morgue.
Yet speeding rarely shortens a journey by much.
A quick calculation for a typical 10km urban trip driven at an average 80km/h, which means some really serious speeding at times, gives us 7,5 minutes plus the time spent at stop signs and lights.
Driven at an average of 50km/h, which is not dawdling, gives us 12 minutes plus the time at lights and stop signs.
The waiting times at the lights is the same for both. So what are your plans for the 4 minutes 30 seconds you save at the risk of your life and the lives of many others?
There is a group of drivers which regards stop signs, give way signs and traffic lights as an affront.
But they are there for a good reason, to stop people running into each other by making it clear who needs to stop and who can go. They must be obeyed. And even then a sensible driver will be prepared to let the arrogant fools through.
Even if you are in the right and are killed, you are still dead.
Impatient drivers take serious risks at times to overtake the slow vehicle in front of them, especially when they have gone for kilometres behind some dawdling driver.
Unfortunately, that act of impatience then kills. Again it is necessary to remember the physics.
A car in a head-on collision has to cope with four times the energy as the same car, at the same speed, ramming a brick wall.
This is why safety experts stress so strongly that you should do anything, including driving off the road, to avoid a head-on collision.
But again, waiting for the suitable safe gap in oncoming traffic may delay you just a minute or two.
Even when the driver in front is slow you are still moving forward.
Some are too ready to blame unroadworthy vehicles.
But in most cases a mechanical fault leads to a stopped car, not a dangerous car.
Defective lights at night or bad wipers in the rain are dangerous. But even a risky driver will stop until it is light or the rain stops. Tyre blow outs should not cause accidents, and most do not cause accidents, so long as you are driving well within your skills and your vehicle’s limits.
Defective brakes are rare, since again even foolish drivers get these fixed. But even a catastrophic failure on the open road needs not be fatal if the level-headed driver pulls up the handbrake, always on a different system, and moves into a very low gear, possible on an automatic as well. You might wreck your gearbox but will be alive and able to phone for the tow truck.
Everyone can have a happy festive season, so long as they remember that the rules are there to save lives, not to make them difficult.
If everyone drives carefully, and is ready to stop quickly if some lunatic is likely to cause an accident, the better.
The old saw about it being better to be late than the late still applies and is still excellent advice. And if decent police patrols are there to curb the excesses of the lunatics, then that is all to the good.
Spare a thought for safety this holiday
The Sunday Mail
For the next two weeks, a flood of national and religious public holidays defines a “festive season” for many, but for some it will be a time of grief and mourning for family members killed in avoidable road accidents.
Almost all road accidents are avoidable, while almost all are caused by human error.
If drivers, cyclists and pedestrians did not make mistakes, then there would be hardly any accidents and probably no deaths.
Road safety experts stress four main causes of accidents — alcohol, speeding, jumping red lights and stop signs, and unsafe overtaking.
Sometimes all four are involved in a single accident.
Perhaps the best summary of the four is arrogance and impatience, an arrogant belief that the law and the Highway Code are inhibitive and for other people, an impatience that sees unacceptable risks being taken.
Alcohol is the most insidious of the causes. Research around the world is conclusive: more than two drinks significantly impair judgment without the drinker being aware of this.
In fact, when they have had a few beers, some drivers feel super confident about their abilities.
Countries that rigidly enforce their drink and drive laws find they can halve their death toll compared to an almost identical country that does not enforce these laws strictly.
It is a pity that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) do not have the equipment for frequent on-the-spot testing of all drivers.
Breathalysers are not that expensive.
Speed is another major killer.
Not only does it take a vehicle to the limits but more importantly it drastically increases the amount of energy and so the subsequent forces in an accident.
Energy is proportional to the square of the velocity, so if you double your speed there is four times as much energy to dissipate in an accident; if you triple your speed there is eight times as much.
This is why a serious city centre accident can produce lots of dents and broken glass but few injuries, while the identical accident done at speed on main roads in the outer suburbs or a national highway fills the nearest morgue.
Yet speeding rarely shortens a journey by much.
A quick calculation for a typical 10km urban trip driven at an average 80km/h, which means some really serious speeding at times, gives us 7,5 minutes plus the time spent at stop signs and lights.
Driven at an average of 50km/h, which is not dawdling, gives us 12 minutes plus the time at lights and stop signs.
The waiting times at the lights is the same for both. So what are your plans for the 4 minutes 30 seconds you save at the risk of your life and the lives of many others?
There is a group of drivers which regards stop signs, give way signs and traffic lights as an affront.
But they are there for a good reason, to stop people running into each other by making it clear who needs to stop and who can go. They must be obeyed. And even then a sensible driver will be prepared to let the arrogant fools through.
Even if you are in the right and are killed, you are still dead.
Impatient drivers take serious risks at times to overtake the slow vehicle in front of them, especially when they have gone for kilometres behind some dawdling driver.
Unfortunately, that act of impatience then kills. Again it is necessary to remember the physics.
A car in a head-on collision has to cope with four times the energy as the same car, at the same speed, ramming a brick wall.
This is why safety experts stress so strongly that you should do anything, including driving off the road, to avoid a head-on collision.
But again, waiting for the suitable safe gap in oncoming traffic may delay you just a minute or two.
Even when the driver in front is slow you are still moving forward.
Some are too ready to blame unroadworthy vehicles.
But in most cases a mechanical fault leads to a stopped car, not a dangerous car.
Defective lights at night or bad wipers in the rain are dangerous. But even a risky driver will stop until it is light or the rain stops. Tyre blow outs should not cause accidents, and most do not cause accidents, so long as you are driving well within your skills and your vehicle’s limits.
Defective brakes are rare, since again even foolish drivers get these fixed. But even a catastrophic failure on the open road needs not be fatal if the level-headed driver pulls up the handbrake, always on a different system, and moves into a very low gear, possible on an automatic as well. You might wreck your gearbox but will be alive and able to phone for the tow truck.
Everyone can have a happy festive season, so long as they remember that the rules are there to save lives, not to make them difficult.
If everyone drives carefully, and is ready to stop quickly if some lunatic is likely to cause an accident, the better.
The old saw about it being better to be late than the late still applies and is still excellent advice. And if decent police patrols are there to curb the excesses of the lunatics, then that is all to the good.
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