Hardly a day passes by without hearing reports of an accident on our roads. Many people are losing their lives in these accidents. Many drivers drive recklessly and thus end up being involved in accidents which most often than not, have fatalities. Human life is too important to be wasted on the roads just like that. What is responsible for these accidents?
There should be a research on this very important issue to find the cause or causes of the many accidents that we observe on our roads. If this is done, there will be empirical proof which will point us in the right direction and the first step to reducing, if not eradicating the huge loss of life that we encounter regularly.
This research will make it clear whether it is over speeding or that there are other factors at play here. The rising rate of accidents can be caused by one or a combination of the following: it could be that the vehicle is faulty, or the driver is drunk, or he is not qualified. The research will establish which one.
The research will then give recommendations based on its findings. If then the recommendations are followed and implemented, then certainly, we will see great improvement.
The hard work will be if the research reveals any of the above causes as responsible for the accidents. All those suggested above can be controlled by using stringent laws and vigorous implementation. This means that the police will have a lot of work to do in ensuring that the law is obeyed by all drivers.
How do we do that? First, the professionalism of the police has to be worked on. That means they (the police) have to be given proper and adequate training and incentives to do the right thing. If they have the right training and are well motivated, then they can ensure that the drivers drive safely.
We can seek assistance from other countries for training. Countries have varying levels of expertise in different areas. One country may be very good at fighting armed robbery while another is good at investigating and preventing murder. A third country may have experts on road safety. It is these that we would seek help from to train our officers.
In the short-term however, sensitization is the best bet. Let there be a massive sensitization campaign on road safety. The life you save may be your own!
