In “The Fast and the Furious” I described how road fatality statistics indicate the pure ineffectiveness of current tactics by the police and government to reduce the road toll. I would like to take some time to examine some of the real issues around the rate of deaths on our roads.
In recent months the government has moved to target drivers labelled as hoons. Hoon drivers are those who drive in a dangerous manner, often exceeding the speed limit by margins that are 50 km/h or more. Under new legislation these people will have their car confiscated for a period of time and face extreme fines. The main problem with this legislation is that the people who it is intended to target have no belief that they will be caught and do not consider the consequences of their behaviour until it is too late. Why these people participate in such dangerous behaviour may be summarised in terms of ego, aggression and limited capacity for cognition. These “hoon” drivers make up such a small proportion of the motoring public that it is obvious that the government is simply acting to create the appearance of doing something. Hoon drivers are a side issue.
So, placing the hoons aside, what are the reasons for car crashes fatal or otherwise? Driving on West Australian roads it becomes evident very quickly that the majority of people have little idea what they are doing. Cars are large, heavy, metal objects moving at high speed. We are so accustomed to them that it is easy to forget that when we drive we are in control of a killing machine. Watch the traffic on the freeway and the symptoms of poor driving are obvious: people drive too close to car in front; people drive too fast; people don’t pay attention to what is happening around them; people don’t plan ahead; people are too aggessive; and people don’t know how to merge.
A sensible driver leaves sufficient space between themselves and the car in front of them. A good guide is three seconds time against a road side object. This provides the driver plenty of time to respond to sudden braking or erratic driving from the car in front with plenty of time. It also means that the following driver is able to moderate their speed without use of the brake pedal. In heavy traffic the cumulative effect of one car braking hard is an eventual standstill further down a line of cars. If drivers leave enough room between them and the car in front then this effect is reduced. Crashes where one car runs in the back of another would be dramatically reduced.
As I have discussed before while it is impossible to have a crash without some element of speed it is not true to say that “speed kills”. Rather excessive speed can cause crashes. On a busy freeway it is frightening to see drivers weaving in and out of traffic, accelerating and braking suddenly and driving well above the speed limit. While their behaviour is obviously dangerous and irresponsible it is often the result of frustration as drivers with little idea of what is going on around them sit in the centre or right lane driving at speeds well below the posted limit. In fact I would argue that drivers driving below the speed limit are as dangerous in this situation as those speeding, particularly when it leads to dangerous behaviour by other drivers.
Drivers are frighteningly inattentive. Leaving those people talking on their mobile phones and turning around to talk to their children many people drift along lost in their own world. They seem to think that the mirrors are part of the cars decor and that the windows are for putting stickers on. Watching other drivers and predicting their behaviour is fundamental to safe driving. Even better is reading the traffic and watching the flow of cars carefully to find potential dangers early on. These blind drivers are a danger to themselves and others.
One often sees drivers who are too aggressive behind the wheel. Perhaps it is the anonymity that our metal boxes offer us or simple human nature but many people when placed in a car become rude, angry and vindictive. The most common example is when one driver changes lanes in front of another. Sometimes drivers become aggressive when another drives too slowly for them. Often there seems no reason but the effects such as tailgating, over taking and then braking, physical violence and other anger fuelled idiocy is terrifying for those on the receiving end, not to mention dangerous.
Finally, and perhaps not fatal, is merging technique, or lack there of. The theory behind merging is not complex. Leave a couple of car lengths between you and the car in front and maintain a set speed. Cars entering from the left wishing to merge can then accelerate, match the speed of the traffic and enter smoothly and with no loss of speed for any of the cars. Instead the typical scenario sees merging drivers tremulously feel their way forward while those with whom they wish to merge brake in a terrified fashion. From this point instead of either car yielding both drive parallel until they run out of room and one car has to become stationary to avoid crashing. This results in traffic coming to a standstill.
What is to be done? Here is a radical solution: improve driver training. In this I don’t simply imply we target new drivers but all drivers. Every five years a driver should have to sit a rigourous written and practical driving test focussing on every aspect of driving. Those who fail should then be forced to participate in driver training before they are allowed to re-sit the test or get behind the wheel once more. Police should also target poor driving behaviour, not just speeding and be given the power to make people re-sit their driving test if they are shown to be lacking.
While costly, no other strategy will have the same impact in reducing the incidence of motor vehicle crashes.
