News
In January 2010, 23 lives were lost on our roads as compared to 17 for the same period in 2009. This represented a 26% increase. February 2010 recorded 5 road fatalities compared to 19 for the corresponding one month period in 2009; a 74% decrease. As of March 3, 2010 the road fatality count stood at 28 as compared to 35 for the same period last year; an overall 20% decrease (Traffic Branch TTPS).
| Between 2002-2006 there were 162,263 reported motor vehicle accidents resulting in 1001 persons being killed and 16,674 persons being injured! |
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The above graph shows the number of Accidents that involved at least one fatality and the number of fatalities from those accidents |
Road Safety
Pedestrians account for a whopping 46 % of our road fatalities whereas vehicle occupants (drivers & passengers) account for another 46 %!
One thing is clear, drivers need to reduce speed around pedestrians and give them more attention and pedestrians need to exercise more care in crossing roads including usage of pedestrian crossings, walkovers and sidewalks where available and wearing high visibility clothing at night.
Traffic Safety in essence is based in a tri-factorial scenario with three main elements of Risk which work inter-changeably for a collision-free motoring environment:
- The Driver
- The Vehicle
- Driving Conditions
a) Drunk driver + Safe Vehicle + Good Road = Motor Vehicle Collision (M.V.C)
b) Good Driver + Defective Vehicle + Good Road = M.V.C
c) Good Driver + Safe Vehicle + Bad Road = M.V.C
The Risk Factors of Driver, Vehicle and Environment must strike a balance for traffic safety to be in check and to do this the three E's of Safety must always be present: Enforcement, Engineering & Education.
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