Tackling road safety

By Jainarine Deonauth

According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), more than 1.2 million people die each year on the world’s roads, and approximately 50 million suffer non-fatal injuries. The latest surveys of road safety in Latin America and the Caribbean show that the region’s roadway fatality rate is approximately 17 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to the average for high-income countries of less than 10 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants.
Further, compared with other causes of untimely deaths, road incidents take more lives each day (about 275) than HIV/AIDS does (156). With the numbers going up, citizens are becoming increasingly impatient and want to see immediate action taken to address the problem.
In Guyana, many organisations have been on the frontline calling for stronger action to be taken against reckless and drunken drivers, and there have been campaigns to educate both drivers and pedestrians about the proper and responsible use of the roads, but we are still not seeing the results we hope for.
Guyana is currently observing National Road Safety Month under the theme: “Walk, Ride or Drive, Practise Road Safety and Stay Alive.” This is indeed a very fitting theme as it seeks to reinforce the message that everyone has a responsibility to use the roads in a responsible and caring manner. All of us are fully aware that lawless minibus and hire-car drivers share a major part of the responsibility for the high number of road accidents we see in Guyana, but pedestrians and cyclists too have a role to play in ensuring that they obey the rules of the road. For example, a new trend that has recently developed is that young people are seen texting or talking on their cell-phones, or listening to music through their headphones in an unconcerned fashion while walking or riding on the road. These are all major distractions and certainly contribute to the road accidents.
In essence, the road network in Guyana is becoming dangerous and very complex, in that many accidents resulting in fatalities are recorded regularly. While fatal accidents are inevitable, at the same time, they can be avoidable if persons exercise the basic road safety measures. So far, 2012 recorded 90 deaths from 83 accidents and, for the corresponding period in 2011, there were 98 deaths from 90 accidents. This is unacceptable for a country with a small population such as ours.
It was mentioned in this newspaper recently that the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC) has signed on to the “Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020” where it is expected that there will be a 50 per cent reduction in fatalities by 2020. The GNRSC is presently partnering with various agencies to put systems in place for achieving the target. Addressing the issue of road safety successfully requires the coordination and collaboration of virtually all sectors of society – government, schools, non-governmental organisations, drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians, among others.
The campaign being carried out by the GNRSC must not be a one-off event, it must be ongoing year round and all stakeholders should get onboard and share creative ideas as to how best to tackle the problem. Better designed roads and safer vehicles will certainly make a difference, but it should also be pointed out that up to 80 per cent of road crashes can be attributed to human error. Hence the need for more communication campaigns to raise awareness and promote responsible behaviour on our roads. For example, in 2011, the IDB launched a pilot campaign for one of Haiti’s busiest highways. Besides traditional billboards, the campaign used radio spots, newspaper comics and even a sitcom television show to spread the message, focusing on adult drivers, young motorcyclists, and children, who typically walk to and from school.
Perhaps Guyana can use some similar methods in educating and raising awareness about various issues in relation to road safety as one may be surprised to find out how many persons still are not fully aware of the basic road safety rules. It is hoped that with everyone coming onboard, Guyana could achieve the target of halving the road fatality rate by the year 2020. It is possible but the work must begin now.