Opinion piece by Chris Lugg FIEAust CPEng NER, President Engineers Australia, Northern Division.
Engineers have significantly improved safety on our roads. In motor vehicles for instance, we have seen the introduction of seatbelts, airbags, side intrusion barriers, collapsible steering columns, ABS brakes, electronic stability control, drilled and vented brake rotors, passenger safety cells, safety glass, impact reducing bumpers and more. Most of these improvements have been introduced since the adoption of Australian Design Rules (ADRs) for motor vehicles, which were legally enforced from 1969. Engineered aids for driver and passenger safety were steadily introduced as a result and have materially assisted in making our roads much safer places than they once were. When looking objectively at Australian road fatalities historically, when measured either per 100,000 persons or per 10,000 registered vehicles, the road fatality figure peaked in 1970 (ABS Transport Accidents, Injuries and Fatalities). Since then, road fatalities have fallen steadily by about 80 percent, with engineered aids contributing significantly to this decline.
However, the one constant weak link that must never be overlooked is the driver!
Driver training remains basic and inadequate and is very poor preparation for safe passage on the roads. If the vehicle was a light aircraft, rather than a car, this situation would not be tolerated, yet the potential for lethal consequences is similar. Alcohol, speed and road conditions get blamed, while driver error as a primary factor is often ignored. Poor decision making by the driver is the overwhelming reason why we have road accidents. When a person decides to drive when they have had too much to drink, it is a driver decision problem! When a person decides to overtake when they have insufficient room or time, it is a driver decision problem! When a driver decides to exceed the speed limit or ignore road conditions, it is a driver decision problem! This problem can be significantly reduced by better training.
The solution to poor driver decision making is comprehensive driver training, which starts with the premise that once a driver is in control then whatever the vehicle does next, is the responsibility of the driver. We must invest in developing drivers not only in operation of a vehicle under all conditions such as night driving in traffic, driving in wet conditions at highway speeds, skid recovery, emergency stopping and so on, but also in responsibility training. Many of our provisional drivers are barely proficient at these skills. The future of our society is vested in our young people and yet we set them loose in a potentially lethal environment when we know they are poorly prepared and at much greater risk than others on our roads.
I believe engineers have done an incredible job over the years, especially since 1969, to improve road safety and driverless cars may be the next step. However, driverless cars are still years away from mainstream use, so we need to act now to introduce far more comprehensive driver training to help keep drivers and passengers safe. Indeed, we should have acted decades ago if we had properly analysed and properly identified the real problem of poor driver decisions.
Image: iStock image.