I am running through ideas to send as a story to newspapers and magazines detailing the amount of blame we put onto road conditions, and here is a small piece I drafted up just to get an idea of what I would send. Constructive criticism is welcomed.
Thanks,
Matt
New Zealand's roads have been reffered to as "The killing fields", In 2010 our death toll sat at 375 deaths, with 2007 being our hardest hitting year within the last 5 years, at a whopping 421 deaths on our roads.
The New Zealand Transport Agency claims that out of those deaths, around 170 are speed related with the rest being blamed on dangerous roads, driver inattention and alchohol and drug related incidents.
Studies show that high risk drivers along with young drivers between the ages of 20 - 24 years old who are at fault in a crash, account for 58% of all serious crashes on New Zealand roads.
Taking into account the goverments assesment on the roads, detailing such areas as a strech of state highway between Parnell and Western Springs which has seen 20 serious crashes and the lives of 2 people over the past 5 years.
There are many other roads considered to be dangerous that are scattered throughout New Zealand although the majority of them are in the Greater Auckland region. The LTSA who is reponsible for determining how dangerous a road is uses the following factors on deciding
how to class the road, crashes, crashes per km and number of deaths.
Why is it that these roads are labelled as dangerous, and that there is such a high number of crashes on these particular streches of road? Why is it, that so many crashes can be blamed on these dangerous roads and the goverment only looks to fix the the immediate cause, instead of the root of the problem?
You could say that pot-holes and blind corners could attribute to it, that no median barriers could also be a cause. You could also go so far as to say that the road surface isn't the correct type for tyres, and you could also say that enviromental conditions such as black ice or off camber corners are to blame. But all that really points to is a lack of driver awareness and/or ability.
No matter where you are, there will never be a perfect road surface to drive on, there will never be full visibility throughout all of the corners and livestock and other factors will always come into play.
What really stands out is the ability of road users to adapt to an ever changing enviroment. As a motorcyclist, I am subject to a much larger possibility of hitting something that will cause me to fall off, whether it be a possum, pot hole or slick of diesel, I have to constantly adjust my riding accordingly to the road conditions so as to not come to a potentially fatal end.
I believe the cause of this problem is first of all the driver licensing system as at present, though sometime in the near future the NZTA are looking to make it harder to pass all of the test which means that drivers have to do more than simply drive around the block, and park into a box.
Currently the tests that you must complete to attain a motorcycle license are as follows; pass a questionarre with 25 multi-choice questions on it which you are allowed a total of 3 incorrect answers and pass a very basic handling skills test which include stopping and starting, turning a simple corner, stopping in a box and doing a small offset sone weave.
Once passed you are then allowed onto the road, where there are a plethora of potential hazards along every strech of road. It comes down to a matter of luck and trial and error, where as if you were taught the skills actually needed to ride on the road, there would be a significantly lower accident rate among motorcyclists.
I believe another contributing factor to the large accident rate is the ability for a learner and restricted driver to drive any kind of car they like, which is usually a souped up skyline or a car of relative style, where the power available to the still new driver is far above that of their ability and that is witnessed in the number of high speed accidents where you have many who lose control of their vehicle and either flatten a pedestrian or wrap themselves around a power pole adding either 1 or 5 numbers to the death toll.
Back onto road conditions, what I have detailed should give you a small understanding on first of all, why young drivers are in the highest death toll statistics and why road conditions shouldn't be to blame but the drivers ability to adapt and change their driving style to the conditions.
It does involve actually looking at the road and surroundings, and assesing them as you drive along the road. Looking for potential hazards and changing road conditions which will mean that drivers can't be fiddling with radios, cell phones, cigarettes and those screaming children in the back. Making sure you are well rested and awake is also a crucial factor in being able to drive at 100% of your ability.
The goverments plan for the future of many roads is to make them as easy and care free to drive on as humanly possible, now that may sound like a good idea at first and it may very well stunt the rise of fatalities on our roads. But all that will do is dull our senses even more untill we are driving on auto pilot, where at the time of any danger or hazard arises, we simply don't have the tuned reactions to be able to deal with the situation properly and safely.
So is the New Zealand goverment simply playing the blame game? dealing to the easier and quicker yet less efficent method? It certainly seems so, and it is a chilling thought to think about how much our goverment really cares about our safety and driving standards, where they now focus on going a mere 5km/h over the posted speed limit where many speedos have a 10% inaccuracy which equates to roughly 10km/h over or under the limit, is that really making our roads dangerous or should be looking at other causes as to our death toll?
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Originally Posted by James Deuce
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