Who is to blame for road accidents?

Around one million fatalities are caused by road accidents each year, of which the vast majority is in the developing countries. The rate of road accidents is increasing in number, especially when compared with highly motorized countries. Road safety problems represent a very significant domestic, social, and economic problem in developing countries.

Globally, it is estimated that road accidents cost over $500 billion each year, and on the other hand, $65 billion each year in developing countries (based on a typical cost of between 1 and 4 percent of a country's gross national product).

In low-income countries and regions the majority of road deaths are among pedestrians, drivers, passengers, cyclists, users of motorized two wheelers, and occupants of buses and minibuses. Bangladesh faces these challenges severely. People are dying everyday.

Statistics show that the death rate per ten thousand registered vehicles is 125 persons in this country. The main, amongst many, reasons behind the accidents are their ignorance of different road safety issues. In other words, lack of formal training to drive, and tendency to ignore traffic law, narrow roads, roads with many turns, unauthorized vehicles, overloaded vehicles, and illegal parking are the main causes of accidents.

With a view to assessing the level of knowledge and behaviour of pedestrians and drivers of the eastern part of Bangladesh, a study was conducted on 831 pedestrians and 170 drivers. A total number of 1,856 pedestrians and 2,400 vehicles in six spots of a road were observed to determine behaviour. Some important road safety issues were included in this study.

Pedestrians' knowledge regarding rules of walking and crossing road, following signs and symbols, and drivers' knowledge of vehicles, rules of overtaking, speed, using lanes, conforming to traffic signs and symbols were determined.

The study shows that less than half of the pedestrians had knowledge of walking along the right side of the road. 63% percent of them knew that a group of pedestrians must walk in line instead of walking side by side. Besides, pedestrians should use lamps while walking at night but half of the respondents did not know they should carry lamps.

In most cases, the driver is thought to be guilty for causing an accident. But the pedestrians are also to blame in many cases. The survey shows that very few pedestrians knew how to use the zebra-crossing and over-bridges to cross roads. Where there were no such provisions that they can avail of, over half of the respondents did not know that they should have a look to the left and the right side of the road before crossing. Very few know that they had to stand at a safe place before they were about to cross over. The survey further revealed that very few pedestrians had the notion of following signs and symbols. Majority of them did not know that gossiping and selling goods on the roads might obstruct the traffic and increase the risk of accidents.

The pedestrian should walk along the right side of the road to avoid getting into accidents. It was seen in the observation of pedestrians that one-third of them walked along the right side of the road and majority of them did not walk in lines. The study reveals that only 36% pedestrians stood at a safe place of the road, and out of these, more than half of them did not look both sides before crossing.

The issues that are considered in this study are very important for the drivers. These are: speed, overtaking other vehicles, changing lanes, overloading of vehicles, following signs and symbols, illegal parking, and driving vehicles under the effect of medicines for specific diseases.

The survey brought to light that the majority of drivers did not have legal license, blue book, and insurance and fitness certificates, and they, like pedestrians, were very little aware of road safety issues. There is a specific speed limit for drivers on local roads and on highways. With regard to overtaking, the majority of the drivers (89%) considered turning of a road to be a very risky place to overtake while very few of them knew overtaking is forbidden at the junction of roads, zebra-crossing, and near narrow bridges.

As regards changing of lanes, half of the drivers did not know the rules of changing lanes while driving their vehicles. They also had incomplete knowledge of the lines drawn on the road. Their knowledge of signs and symbols was also very poor.

As a whole, drivers not only had little knowledge, but their behaviour also proved that they did not care about the traffic rules and regulations. The practice of entering into highways from side roads was observed. On the other hand, they did not follow the overtaking rules. Majority of the drivers did not park their vehicles in right places. Drivers also ignored the rule regarding overloading, which is one of the greatest risk factors on the road. Most of the vehicles observed on the road were overloaded. Drivers should not drive after taking medication for fever and cold because this type of medicine causes drowsiness and tiredness, and may cause accident. Almost half of the drivers ignored this rule.

It is clear that both pedestrians and drivers on the one hand had incomplete knowledge of traffic rules, and on the other hand, their observed behaviour proved that they disregarded the rules. This blatant, and at times nonchalant, disregard for traffic rules can only spell disaster, and it is. Various awareness programs for the pedestrians and drivers, and enforcement of the traffic rules could improve this situation, and bring down the number of such road accidents. Otherwise, the impact of this type of accidents, caused by sheer ignorance, will continue to affect us as well as our future generations.