READING, listening or watching any of the available medium of the mass media prepares for us an almost daily serving of a tasteless and indigestible dish of road traffic injuries.According to the World Health Organization (WHO) World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention: Summary, 2004: “Road Traffic injuries are a major but neglected challenge that require concerted efforts for effective and sustainable prevention.”
Worldwide, an estimated 1.2 million people are killed in road crashes each year, and as many as 50 million are injured. Projections indicate that these figures will increase by about 65% over the next 20 years, unless there is new commitment to prevention.
More than 90 per cent of these deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries, which have less than half of the world’s vehicles; and children, pedestrians, cyclists and the elderly are the most vulnerable of road users.
Figures released by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) show that, up to the end of September, 2013, there were 75 road deaths from 72 accidents. So far, this year, 27 pedestrians have been killed in road accidents, while 12 motorcyclists and 11 pedal cyclists have accounted for the next highest categories of road fatalities. This is in addition to ten drivers of motor vehicles, two pillion riders, and 13 passengers of motor vehicles, who all lost their lives on the country’s roads. Included also are six children who perished on the roads. Nevertheless, the tragedy behind these figures attracts less mass media attention than other, less frequent types of tragedy.
But should this trend continue? In fact, road traffic injuries threaten to hinder achievements in economic and human development. It has been estimated that global losses due to road traffic injuries total $518 billion and cost Governments between one and three percent of their gross national product (GNP). In some low- and middle-income countries, the loss is more than the total amount of development assistance they receive.
Road traffic injuries place a heavy burden on a country’s economy as a result of their direct impact on health-care and rehabilitation services, as well as through indirect costs. They also can put considerable financial stress on affected families, who often must absorb medical and rehabilitation costs, funeral costs and such other costs as the lost earnings of the victim, in addition to extensive emotional strain.
In addition, over a third of road traffic deaths in low- and middle-income countries are among pedestrians and cyclists. However, less than thirty-five percent of low and middle-income countries have policies in place to protect these road users.
For example, according to the WHO ‘Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013 Supporting a Decade of Action’, in Guyana there are NO policies that:- Promote walking and cycling; Promote investment in public transportation; Separate vulnerable road users from high-speed traffic. The Report suggests, however, that road audits are done on new roads in Guyana, and partially on existing roads; but those audits are not conducted by independent assessors.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned, on May 10, 2010, the General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/64/255 with which it proclaimed the period 2011–2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal to stabilize and then reduce, by 2020, the forecast level (prevent five million road traffic deaths globally) of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities conducted at the national, regional and global levels. To this end, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), headed by Mr. Nigel Erskine, intends to focus its work programme on: Safe vehicles; Safe roads; Safe road users, to ensure concomitant results of the UN Decade of Action.
In order to support the above, ten Road Safety Associations were established across the country. Those are intended to highlight problems faced by communities, and aid the work of the GNRSC.
The Guyana Police Force, for its part, contends, in its recent report on traffic, that the carnage continues despite the traffic enforcement by the police during the period January to September 2013 resulted in a total of 65,527 cases being made against errant motorists. Of this total, 16,586 cases were for speeding.
Speeding continues to be a major factor in fatal accidents, causing 52 of the 72 fatal accidents recorded at the end of September.
Therefore, in cognizance of the efforts by the GNRSC and the GPF Traffic Corner, which seek to raise awareness to the prevalence of road traffic injuries and, by extension, Road Safety, it has been proffered that ‘Road Safety is everybody’s business.’ Thus, it is respectfully submitted that, to bolster the work and efforts of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana National Road Safety Council, there must be collaboration of various stakeholders, such as insurance companies, learning institutions, religious organizations, public corporations, the private sector, and local communities. The ultimate goal is to be partners in the global struggle to stabilize and reduce the forecast levels of road injuries as adumbrated by the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety – 2011-2020.
For this reason, Traffic Corner begins the conversation by examining the safe road user approach as embraced by the GNRC. – Reducing Speed

Speeding is a major road safety problem in all countries. Faster driving speeds increase the likelihood of a crash occurring, and the severity of the consequences thereof. Interventions to reduce speed can lead to significant reductions in road traffic injuries. Thus setting speed limits according to designated function of particular roads is an effective measure to reduce road traffic injuries.
A number of countries considered leaders in road safety, such as Australia and Sweden, have adopted universal urban speed limits of 50km/h, based on the effectiveness of this measure in reducing injuries and deaths. And the fact that pedestrians and cyclists are especially at risk of an injury as a result of excessive vehicle speeds, this vulnerability means particular attention needs to be paid to speed limits in areas with high concentrations of these road users, such as around schools or in residential neighbourhoods.
According to the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, the introduction of 30km/h zones in residential areas in the United Kingdom resulted in overall vehicle speed reductions of 15m/km and a cut in vehicle crashes with child pedestrians and cyclists by 67 percent.

The report also posited that most countries follow a hierarchical approach and adopt speed limits within the following levels:

* Higher speed roads – motorways, expressways and multi-lane divided highways ideally ensure no contact between motorized and non-motorised traffic, and have barriers to separate opposing directions of traffic. In general, they have the lowest rates of road injuries because of these features. In most high-income countries, speed limits are set at between 90-130km/h.

* Rural roads – single lane carriageways in rural areas include many different types of roads, and speed limits in high-performing countries vary from 70-100km/h. These roads have much higher rates of injuries than higher speed roads, because of large differences in speed between various types of user…

* Urban roads – roads in towns and cities — are usually shared by pedestrians, cyclists, users of public transport, as well as higher-speed traffic. While 50km/h is considered best practice for urban speed limits, there is much evidence to support reducing these limits to 30km/h as a way of calming traffic in areas with pedestrian concentrations.

Notwithstanding the need for countries to adopt speed limits, to aid in the reduction of road accidents and injuries, there must be a concomitant need for strong enforcement of speed limits. To this end, the WHO Global Status Report 2013 states that even in high-income countries, which tend to have more financial resources to dedicate to enforcement, speed law enforcement remains weak. The body recommends that enforcement of speed limits is essential for successfully developing safer driving behaviours, and this needs to be given increasing emphasis in most countries.
With reference to the aforementioned, Traffic Corner endorses a recent stated position by Commissioner of Police (ag.) Leroy Brumell that if what is termed “harassment” by police to curb the spiralling incidents of road accidents, injuries and deaths (too many bite the dust) will do it, then ranks must be encouraged to so do; but according to Commissioner Brumell, “we are not calling it harassment, we are calling it firm investigation and interrogation.
Traffic Corner wishes to join hands with the GNRSC as it launches National Road Safety Month (November) under the theme “Alcohol, speed and inattentiveness cause accidents. Drive wisely to save lives”.
The next edition will address DRINKING AND DRIVING & DRUG USE AND DRIVING, as the conversation gears towards an interdependent response to the ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’ continues on Safe Road User Approach. And it is the expressed hope that, as we celebrate National Road Safety Month, we can all answer to the ‘Road Safety is everybody’s business.’