Curbing road accidents with detectors, fines
Road safety: Better enforcement of speed limits and road rules can lead to a decrease in road accidents and fatalities. Picture: Saifulizam
Monday, December 10, 2007
ACCORDING to recent sta-tistics, 64 per cent of road accidents in Brunei Darussalam are a result of human error, and it is not difficult to identify the causes carelessness, negligence, ignorance and, at times, complete dis-regard for road safety regulations.
Simply wait at a traffic light junction for the better part of an hour and one can see plenty of examples.
Yesterday in Lambak, four cars continued to move through an intersection after the traffic light had turned amber for the space of an hour. This is a relatively high number considering it was Sunday morning.
A more alarming fact is that within the same hour, a further four cars continued to zip past the intersection after the lights had turned red.
While doing so, they even seemed to go at a faster speed, leaving the impression that the drivers actually sped up to make it through the junction in question.
Incidences like these are considered to be relatively harmless by many, but for those who have been involved in accidents caused by drivers' running red lights, it is no laughing matter. Some accidents were so severe that they led to fatalities.
In Brunei, a relatively small country in the regional and global context, the ratio of accidents and fatalities is high.
A road safety expert recently in Brunei pointed this out during his visit. "The rate is okay for Brunei, being a small state with a small population. But the rate is only okay based on the standards of other countries which have bigger populations," said University of Mississippi professor, Dr Waheed Uddin who spoke in late November of this year.
While education and driver training has been cited as one way accidents can be reduced, technology can also play a vital role in changing people's mindsets.
A recent poll conducted by The Brunei Times showed that 52 per cent believe that speed cameras may help curb the prevalence of accidents.
The heavy penalties facing drivers who commit red light offence are already high and to enforce the laws would also mean that authorities will need to allocate resources to the task, resources which could be deployed strategically to address more serious issues.
By fusing both technology and human resources together, the authorities would be placed in a better position to act, in turn discouraging misdemeanours from taking place.
In the United Kingdom, figures of road accidents decreased greatly after the introduction of speed detectors in combating road and traffic injunctions on motorways.
Some people have also also attributed the sharp fall in offences to drivers' awareness of traffic police monitoring stretches of road.
This gives them time to slow down and go by without incurring any fines.
At the end of the day it is about reducing the number of accidents and road fatalities, something that the 'fear' of losing one's driver's licence and/or suffering heavy fines is effective at instilling.
The Brunei Times
Simply wait at a traffic light junction for the better part of an hour and one can see plenty of examples.
Yesterday in Lambak, four cars continued to move through an intersection after the traffic light had turned amber for the space of an hour. This is a relatively high number considering it was Sunday morning.
A more alarming fact is that within the same hour, a further four cars continued to zip past the intersection after the lights had turned red.
While doing so, they even seemed to go at a faster speed, leaving the impression that the drivers actually sped up to make it through the junction in question.
Incidences like these are considered to be relatively harmless by many, but for those who have been involved in accidents caused by drivers' running red lights, it is no laughing matter. Some accidents were so severe that they led to fatalities.
In Brunei, a relatively small country in the regional and global context, the ratio of accidents and fatalities is high.
A road safety expert recently in Brunei pointed this out during his visit. "The rate is okay for Brunei, being a small state with a small population. But the rate is only okay based on the standards of other countries which have bigger populations," said University of Mississippi professor, Dr Waheed Uddin who spoke in late November of this year.
While education and driver training has been cited as one way accidents can be reduced, technology can also play a vital role in changing people's mindsets.
A recent poll conducted by The Brunei Times showed that 52 per cent believe that speed cameras may help curb the prevalence of accidents.
The heavy penalties facing drivers who commit red light offence are already high and to enforce the laws would also mean that authorities will need to allocate resources to the task, resources which could be deployed strategically to address more serious issues.
By fusing both technology and human resources together, the authorities would be placed in a better position to act, in turn discouraging misdemeanours from taking place.
In the United Kingdom, figures of road accidents decreased greatly after the introduction of speed detectors in combating road and traffic injunctions on motorways.
Some people have also also attributed the sharp fall in offences to drivers' awareness of traffic police monitoring stretches of road.
This gives them time to slow down and go by without incurring any fines.
At the end of the day it is about reducing the number of accidents and road fatalities, something that the 'fear' of losing one's driver's licence and/or suffering heavy fines is effective at instilling.
The Brunei Times
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