Commuting Accident free on Roads

By
Bhaskar Karnick & V.Krishna Moorthy
"Man who drives like hell bound to get there."

- Confucius!! .

Contents
  • 01. Introduction
  • 02. Common causes for Road accidents
  • 03. Road Conditions
  • 04. Road Networks
  • 05. The role of Crossings
  • 06. Traffic rules & driving Disciplines
  • 07.Reducing the Time spent on road
  • 08. Vehicle condition
  • 09. Driving skills & attitudes
  • 10. How to reduce the chances of accident?
  • 11. Conclusion
  • 12. Reference Links
    		• Introduction

    City Roads, the cars, trucks buses and cycles are the core of the commuting systems of the modern world and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Today major Cities in the world are full of complex road networks and people use them to commute from one point to the other. With the increase in vehicular traffic, the roads are becoming extremely over crowded beyond the desirable volumes and the vehicles are more accident prone. With time, the incidences speedup and almost go out of control and management.

    One cannot be sure of returning home scratch free, for no mistake of theirs.

    Life is very precious to an individual as well to near and dear ones. With small family sizes and parental commitments safety of an individual is a matter of great concern. In such a scenario traffic education, the driving skills development, driving techniques and good road practice as road user can lessen the chance of meeting with accidents.

    In this article we are trying to identify major factors responsible for the accidents and the measures that can be taken by concerned parties to improve the situation.

    Application of Safety measures against ever growing transportation needs of the city is a tricky problem. So the corrective measures will have to be taken continuously and cautiously. With measures taken at a time point the city may become safer for some time but would fall back to an uncontrollable accident levels very soon due ever increasing traffic population. The traffic cycles keep the city live, attractive, growth oriented offering many challenges and opportunities.

    Some common Causes of Accidents

    Accidents itself is defined as an unexpected and undesirable event, as it always results in damage, harm and invariably human and property loss. Automobile accidents occurs due to various causes, to list the few:

    There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all.
    - Robert Orben

    Road Conditions

    Road conditions is one of the major cause of the road accidents and it is worse so, wherein the actual road users can do little about it. All the same users need to be aware of the factors, which make the road more accident-prone. May be one can avoid roads which are more accident prone, if an alternative circuitous better root is available even if it takes more time or implies driving a little bit longer distance. Roads are designed to take a certain load, depending on the expected traffic conditions. The quality of the construction of roads by the way of material, workmanship and process governs the load factors that a road can take. The other factor is its usable width whether the road is one way or two ways. If the road is narrow and allows changing direction very often, it results in roadblocks and makes the road accident-prone.

    The maintenance of the road is very important. The road will erode out depending on its quality, load factor, traffic, weather etc. Water logging and rain can spoil the road within few hours. It is important to have working drainage system, which will take away the water from road in shortest possible time. Once the road gets soaked the upper layer of the metal loosens out and the moving traffic will remove the layer within hours creating pot holes of varying sizes. Generally heavy rain can spoil roads in such wide area that it takes few months requiring rebuilding to the original states by the concerned authorities. This leaves the road accident-prone for a long time causing much avoidable accidents resulting in loss of life, time and strain in the citys budget.

    Lot of research is being carried out with different materials and techniques to improve the quality of the roads as well increase their life by making them withstand the vagaries of weather.

    Many accident-prone spots need to be studied/inspected and remedial actions should be taken.

    Some of the points that may be considered are:

    • 1. Is there a consistency and clarity of approach in the quantity, quality, type and standard of maintenance of layout, signs and markings along the road?
    • 2. Is correct warning of a hazard given on the approach by use of the proper road markings hazard centerline, SLOW marking and so on as set out in the Traffic Signs Manuals?
    • 3. Are the markings and road studs properly maintained, so that they are clearly visible by day and by night and give the necessary minimum preview time (two seconds)?
    • 4. Are the prescribed warning signs provided?
    • 5. Are the signs the correct distance from the hazard?
    • 6. Are the signs the correct size for the prevailing traffic speeds?
    • 7. Are the signs properly maintained and in good condition? (Worn or dirty signs cannot deliver the intended level of service.)
    • 8. Can the signs be clearly seen over the full recommended visibility distance or are they obscured by foliage, other signs, parked vehicles etc?
    • 9. Are the signs sited under trees or otherwise in deep shadow for much of the day? If so they may be prone to algae growth, which obscures them and seriously degrades retro reflective performance. Fluorescent backing boards will greatly enhance conspicuity in daytime, when ultraviolet radiation is present.
    • 10. Are signs difficult to see because they are viewed against a complex background? (If so a yellow backing board might greatly improve conspicuity).
    • 11. Are signs difficult to pick out at night because they compete for attention with brightly lit advertisements, shop fronts etc?
    • 12. Have the needs of all road users and vehicle types been taken into account, as far as is practically possible?
    Vulnerable road users

    It is important to promote cycling and walking and it is known that pedestrians and cyclists and other vulnerable road users (such as equestrians and two-wheeled motor vehicle riders) have especially high levels of accident risk. Therefore, it is important to consider their needs and make provision for them.

    Few things that can be done for vulnerable road users:

    • 1. Providing footways, cycle lanes, cycle tracks and bridleways?
    • 2. Controlled or uncontrolled crossing facilities?
    • 3. Grade separated crossings?
    • 4. Crossing points for slip roads on major roads?
    • 5. Facilities for cyclists where vehicles merge at high speed?
    • 6. Roundabout designs to benefit cyclists and pedestrians

    Road Network

    Road Network takes away fair amount of available space from the city. Generally a Network of road gets formed as the city grows in unplanned fashion. The roads form unplanned local Network. The city administration tries to connect this unplanned and haphazard local Network with Planed Network. This results in uneven traffic within localities. Traffic jams, Unavoidable red lights, Construction of avoidable expensive flyovers.

    A good Network should offer alternative roots from one place to other for different type of vehicles. Good public transport system to reduce the number of vehicle on the road.

    The role Crossings

    The unplanned Road Network results in many road crossings. Road crossings can be simple crossing of two roads or a complex crossing of multiple roads. For low traffic circles are good solution but as the traffic goes up traffic lights provide a better solution to manage the traffic. With increase in traffic, the waiting time becomes intolerable and flyover becomes the necessity. As the traffic increases beyond a tolerable limit, theses also become useless and one has to face traffic jams. At that point providing an alternate root to the traffic flow becomes a viable solution. But slowly the alternate roots have the same fate and the cycle goes on.

    Traffic rules and Discipline

    Traffic rules are made to discipline and to make the traffic safe and smooth. Traffic laws also many times impose restriction on road usage by the way of one way, timings, parking restrictions, etc. These rules some time may make one to cover miles of road to reach few steps from where they are. The intension of the traffic rules is to make the roads safer and smoother to travel and amy a time to avoid congestions.

    Reducing time spent on road

    The chances of meeting with an accident increases with the time one spends on the road. To reduce to the time spent on the road, choose less dense roots, or select the time when the traffic is considerably less i.e. traveling early, or late may reduce the time spent on the road and make you less tired.

    The faster you drive through a red light, the smaller the chance you have of getting hit!!
    -Statistical possibilities

    Vehicle condition

    Many accidents occur due to break failure, improper light in the night or over illumination without dipping when needed, broken mirrors, improper tyre pressure or other mechanical and electrical failures. Condition of vehicle is taken for granted. Motorist generally start and move with full speed assuming the breaks will work when required. That's not true always motorist can make it a habit to check few things before using the vehicle everyday - it may save their life and also somebody else.

    Driving skills and attitudes

    Driving skill involves knowing the controls of the vehicle and the individual behavior of the specific vehicle one is driving. In other words not only mastery over the control of the vehicle, but felling at home with peculiar behaviors of a specific vehicle is a must. A good motorist should be able to predict the behavior of the other Motorist this comes with observation, practice and experience in a particular city.

    The total response time of breaking a vehicle from motion is equivalent to individual's response time plus the time taken by the vehicle to respond to the action completely. But this factor alone does not save one from accidents. It is proved that the skilled motorist would start responding much before a sign of mishap. The few microseconds gained at a strategic juncture, (may be intuitive - sixth sense) - saves one from accidents.

    It is a known fact that there are blind spots in vision. One should know about this vision defect. There are common blind spots in human vision. For example, some time a driver cannot see a person walking in the center of the road while all his co-passengers can see the person. The accident caused would look as if it is due to rash driving. It is also true that some time very normal person would be lost in their thoughts. One may walk into the center of the road, with heavy traffic and may not be hearing any honking or shouting by the passing vehicle. Only a miracle can save such persons from disaster.

    Ones attitude decides how an individual is prone to accidents all conditions being equal. Youngsters and people with criminal bent of mind pick rash driving habit. Not only these people do not avoid mishaps on the road but also they may seek such incidents to satisfy their own ego or what ever it is and cause serious accident while just having fun. These people enjoy breaking law picking up Uncalled for quarrel and boast about it in their friends circle to satisfy their ego.

    It is a big question whether this attitude can be changed? It is very unlikely and they will remain a major factor in Road accident creation.

    What can one do to reduce the chances of accidents?

    Reducing Traffic Loads

    An individual can choose to stay near his work place, walk down small distance, and manage with single vehicle for a family. Plan going out considering traffic condition and avoid congested roots. Get into habit of getting things delivered at home; the traffic reduces because the same individual caters to many homes rather than each home making a member move for purchases.

    Avoiding Sleepy Driving

    Monotonous activity induces sleep. Also early morning hours and 2 to 4 in the afternoon are prone to induce sleep in the driver. One should be either extra careful or avoid driving at these hours. One must recognize a road which seem to be so safe that driver gets overconfident and becomes less attentive, the mind has nothing to concentrate on, would like to go to sleep. The driver will have tough time fighting sleep and eventually will fall asleep to find himself either in the hospital or heaven.

    Vehicle Conditions

    Above all keep his vehicle in excellent condition through regular maintenance and periodically following the checklist provided with the vehicle.

    Conclusion

    We see nowadays, in major cities, many flyovers are built for a free flow of traffic. No doubts they have helped in clearing traffic jams in intersections. But the traffic signals, aiding flow of traffic from Colony exits in main roads, few meters from flyovers, are creating bigger traffic jams. Wrongly timed traffic signals and Traffic light failures due electrical supply may create further traffic flow problems.

    In an article in Feb., 2005 issue of New Scientist on City Road networks, it is said that Traffic should flow best in cities when only a limited number of roads lead to the centre. The same article quotes

    Organisms such as fungi have managed to evolve a complex network in which there are centralised and decentralised pathways to move nutrients around. Now we can look at biological systems in terms of the 'costs' and 'benefits' of the connections rather than in terms of the physical structures themselves"
    -Johnson

    Innovative approach in traffic management is the need of the hour. Apart from that Driving has two conflicting structural components--predictability and unpredictability. Both are present all the time.

    Predictability factors are:

    These practices create safety, security, and provide great escape from disaster.

    Unpredictability factors are:

    • Over speeding all on a sudden
    • impulsive lane changes without signaling
    These may lead to - danger, stress, and crashes.

    Let us commute safer on roads, watch out may be the mantra for the safety.

    Reference Links

  • The International Road Safety Academy-Train-the-Trainer Programs for Master Trainers
  • A global partnership for sustainable improvement of road safety in developing and transition countries
  • UNECE: Road Traffic Safety
  • Trvel Safety
  • Drivers and Driving
  • New roads can cause congestion
  • Bad driving holds the secret to traffic forecasts
  • Look for topics on Accidents
  • Traffic calming techniques
  • Glossary of Terms
  • `How Is Your Driving Health? Brochure
  • Traffic Police Delhi