Road Safety

ROAD SAFETY

Case Study: ‘Driving faster can cause disasters’.

By Express News Service, 06th April 2018

CHENNAI: The Chennai city traffic police have registered a case against a woman after her son, a Class XI student, died in an accident in Thirumangalam here on Wednesday. Meera Venkatesh who lent her bike to her son for riding without driving licence, was booked. The boy Kannan (name changed) was riding a Bajaj Pulsar 200-CC bike with his classmate riding to a tuition centre, when he banged on a pedestrian on Park Road in Mogappair. In this impact, the pedestrian was injured and the boy smashed against the platform as he had applied brakes to save the pedestrian.

As he was not wearing a helmet, he suffered severe head injuries. The boy was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead succumbing to injuries.

In this lesson, We will learn about a road accident refers to any accident involving at least a vehicle, occurring on a road open to public transport, and in which at least one person is injured or killed. Intentional acts (murder, suicide) and natural disasters are excluded from road accidents.

Road accidents are the leading cause of death by injury and the tenth-leading cause of all deaths globally. An estimated 1.2 million people are killed in road crashes each year, and as many as 50 million people are injured.

How different factors contribute to road accidents:

Drivers: Over-speeding, rash driving, violation of rules, failure to understand signs, fatigue, alcohol

Pedestrians: Carelessness, illiteracy, crossing at wrong places, jaywalkers

Passengers: Projecting their body parts outside vehicles, talking to drivers, alighting and boarding vehicles from the wrong side, travelling on footboards, catching a running bus etc.

Vehicles: Failure of brakes or steering, tyre burst, insufficient headlights, overloading

Road Conditions: Potholes, damaged roads, eroded roads merging of rural roads with highways and illegal speed breakers

Weather conditions: Fog, snow, heavy rainfall, wind storms, hail storms.

Look at the diagram given above and answer the following.

1.             Which road use category causes the highest number of deaths? Could you give any three possible reasons? What would you suggest as the related safety rules?

2.             How could pedestrians save themselves from road accidents?

Direct Consequences of Accidents:

1. Fatality (Death)

2. Injury

3. Damage to Property

Preventive measures for accidents:

1.            Education and awareness about road safety

2.            Strict enforcement of law

3.            Engineering:

(a)         Vehicle design

(b)         Road infrastructure

Road Traffic Deaths Worldwide by Sex and Age Group, 2002

Source: WHO Global Burden of Disease Project, Version 1 (2002).

Look at the above diagram carefully and answer the following.

1.    Which age group tops the number of road traffic deaths worldwide? Why?

2.    Give some inference on the striking difference between the number of road accident deaths of males and females.

Rules to Ensure Road Safety for children

It is important for children to know about road safety rules and regulations. Here are a few basic road safety rules for children:

1.            Know Your Signals

2.            Stop, Look and Cross

3.            Pay Attention – Listen

4.            Don’t Run On Roads

5.            Always Use Sidewalks

6.            Never Stick Hands outside the Vehicle

7.            Never Cross Road at Bends

8.            Don’t Rush

Activities

Road Safety Games & Activities

Play is one of the best ways to make children learn important things. A few road safety tips will help the children learn about road safety.

·              Crosswords are excellent learning tools for older students. You can find road safety education crosswords for online.

·              Play guessing games play noises or sounds that they are likely to hear on the street and ask them what it is.

·              Red Light, Green Light Have the children run around and someone yells out, 'red light' and the children have to stop what they are doing until they hear 'green light'.