The Road Toll Isn’t Dropping Anytime Soon
What a pessimistic headline that is, don’t you think? Well, it’s not something we wish to happen but sadly given the state of the driving environment we find ourselves in, it is the sad truth.
Despite Government campaigns and seminar after seminar on road safety, the road toll is rising, last year it rose by around 1.6%. The accident injury rate is also climbing, sitting at around 61,000 people per year, up from 40,000 just a few years ago.
What is driving this surge in catastrophic carnage that leaves families devastated, kids without parents and trauma that lasts a lifetime for those left behind?
The answer is not simple, but I want to focus on driver behaviour, because if it wasn’t for drivers making mistakes then the road toll would be zero. Even with advanced vehicle technology designed to supposedly save lives, the road toll is rising, so technology can’t be the solution. Clearly, we have better quality roads now than even 20 years ago, so improved roads can’t be the only solution.
We have to bring it back to the driver, the driver has to be the solution to these issues we are seeing, we can no longer try to use a Band Aid to fix a broken leg.
What are we seeing as the main issues?
Well for starters, too many drivers are in a rush, they drive around like the end of the world is coming, often throwing caution to the wind and when you rush you make mistakes. That is obvious, if you have ever tried to do anything that requires you to be precise and you rushed it, then the outcome will always be bad.
Too many drivers are not identifying hazards and if they are they disregard them as if nothing will happen, they are often surprised when it does occur because they simply don’t take driving seriously. Or they think it won’t happen to them.
This rushing mindset also leads to impatience, commonly expressed by tailgating other vehicles. The crash avoidance space CAS you have in front of you is to allow time to react to the sudden slowing of the vehicle ahead. This can occur for any number of reasons, and we should be prepared to stop at any time, never assuming the traffic will keep flowing.
So, when you take the CAS away you have limited time to react and then a sudden slowing of the vehicles ahead results in a nose to tail crash.
Impatience is also seen in the form of road bullying, just this week we had a young learner driver we were teaching receive significant bullying by another motorist because their speed was slightly down. Why was the speed down you may ask? Well, they had only completed 3 hours of on road driving and there was significant fog causing reduced visibility.
Yet this impatient driver decided it was a smart idea to tailgate behind our vehicle covered in Learner Driver signage with less than half a car lengths gap and flashing the headlights. What kind of special must you be to treat a new learner driver with such bullying behaviour?
Again, this is an example of a lack of patience and certainly a lack of empathy towards another motorist.
Empathy is when you place yourself in the position of the other driver and think what could be going on for them that is currently causing them to drive the way they are.
How is it we have lost this skill in society where treating another motorist with respect is now an imposition to our day?
Furthermore, how is their trip more valuable than ours? These questions need to be asked, and the drivers should be thinking what if that was my child in that vehicle learning to drive, would I behave so badly towards them?
Another problem facing drivers today is this inflated self-belief that they are a good driver, and they are safe. If they drive in the manner we have just described and you see it every day, then they are indeed not good drivers, nor are they safe.
People now think the modern vehicle will keep you safe in a crash, the fear of crashing has gone, my airbags will save me, or this is a safe vehicle… But reflect back to the statistics we referred to earlier, they don’t show we are safer, in fact it’s the opposite.
So, unless drivers change their attitude and start to change the way they drive, I’m sorry to say the road toll isn’t going to drop, it is only going to increase. You may read this and think well that doesn’t sound very positive, and you are correct, it’s not positive at all.
But to think this won’t happen to me or my family is a very dangerous unrealistic thought pattern, because how do you know when you will or won’t be involved in a crash?
We can’t predict these things, except for our own actions, they are the only thing we have control over. If you are wondering what you can do, then think about how you drive, think about your level of training, when was the last time you did a defensive driving program?
This isn’t a sell job on our programs, this is facts, if you get trained and follow the training you will be significantly safer based on the known causal factors of road trauma.
We teach how to avoid these factors.
Also look around at the behaviour of other drivers and ask yourself what will it take to change their behaviour? Visible Policing has gone out the window, just yesterday we witnessed a driver carry out an illegal U-Turn at a busy traffic light, the Police were right behind them and did nothing.
The two officers were in a Holden Rodeo and were too busy chatting away to even care. Perhaps they were busy and on their way to another job, but to not be in a position to correct this behaviour only strengthens the resolve of the offender.
You may say well no one was injured what harm was there? That isn’t the point, the statistics are pointing to an obvious problem and if we don’t address it, that problem is only going to get worse and we are all collectively in more danger.
Never before has it been so important to Steer Safely, I wish you all the very best in your travels and encourage you to take driving seriously.
Thanks for Reading
Stewart Nicholls
Managing Director