In most of the Western world the basic functionality of traffic lights are quite well respected. Most drivers will know that running a red light has the risk of a collision with on-coming traffic. In some cases running a red light automatically signals a camera flash and a subsequent fine at your door. However in Africa Brian explains that the traffic light is seldom respected and rather traffic flows are conducted like orchestra by traffic police. Room for modernization? Brian explores in his column…

Greetings to you superstars in solidarity with road safety – which is actually our safety. I hope by now, you have acquired your driving permits and that you didn’t ‘buy’ them! Because if you do, then you will precisely bring yourself to your creator sooner than you had imagined. And no one wants to hear of such news. We all would love to die a natural death (I hate to say that though). Lets avoid premature and avoidable deaths on the roads!

Lets start with some good news from Somalia, Yipeeee! Traffic policemen are back on the streets of the Somali capital Mogadishu after a 20 year absence! That’s correct guys! Every one has known Somalia to be a home of a civil war but not any more because they got an elected president and their political environment seems to be getting sexier every minute that passes. Shukrannnnnnnn Allah!!! Now, the Somali traffic police aint messing around. They are professionally dealing with unlicensed drivers and cars with no number plates which are just some of the problems they face. Ok..now, lets go back to the topic:

Africa’s urban roads are generally characterized by among many interesting features ‘non functional traffic lights’ and the ‘ever-smart traffic police’. This is no joke people. If you happen to be driving in the heart of many African cities, you will not miss seeing the traffic police directing the traffic to north, east, west and center. Good job these guys do, no?

Now, more interestingly, you will come to learn tha actually in the same place, there are traffic lights. These traffic lights are either non functional or they work but traffic give nothing about them. They may as well show red and all of a sudden, you will see the traffic police beckoning you to drive. Besides, the other drivers will have yelled already why you aint driving.

For female drivers, they are more patient and careful just in case you haven’t observed. The male drivers by then will have cursed the gods through their teeth and uttered all sorts of jibes and abuses. It even gets more interesting when it rains! Hahaha. Of course, you don’t expect the traffic police to be directing traffic in the rain. This coupled by non functional traffic lights (where they exist) bring in the much complained about ‘traffic jam’.

Now, we ask our selves. Who is cheaper? Hiring a traffic officer to direct traffic every day? Or Installing a traffic light which will work day and night? Is it rocket science that our planners can´t even reason this out? While we pedestrians and other road users will blame it all on our respective governments for successfully failing to ensure planned roads, it becomes our sole responsibility to ensure safety on our roads. Lets pledge to continue driving at recommended speeds and the absence of traffic lights or police officers shouldn’t be our primary reason to cause accidents on the roads. Much respects and stay safe!

The National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS) regularly update us with the latest activities for youth and road safety issues in North America. Being the leading organization for youth safety; campaigns activities and studies, NOYS have published an article focusing on the cognitive abilities of teenagers to drive. Are teens mentally prepared to drive?

During the ages 12 and 25, the brain undergoes a massive reorganization. It undergoes extensive remodeling, resembling a network and wiring upgrade. Compared with adults, teens tend to make less use of brain regions that monitor performance, spot errors, plan, and stay focused – areas the adults seemed to bring online automatically. This lets the adults use a variety of brain resources and better resist temptation, while the teens used those areas less often and more readily gave in to the impulse – just as they’re more likely to look away from the road to read a text message.

Seeking Sensation
Seeking sensation isn’t necessarily impulsive. Teens might plan a sensation-seeking experience (a skydive or a fast drive) quite deliberately. Impulsivity generally drops throughout life, starting at about age 10, but this love of the thrill peaks at around age 15.

Also peaking during adolescence is risk-taking.

In research labs, teens take more chances in controlled experiments involving everything from card games to simulated driving. And it shows in real life, where the period from roughly age 15 to 25 brings peaks in all sorts of risky ventures, with 14- to 17-year-olds being the biggest risk takers. This age group dies of incidents of almost every sort at high rates. Most long-term drug or alcohol abuse starts during adolescence, and even people who later drink responsibly often drink too much as teens. Especially in cultures where teenage driving is common, this takes a gory toll: In the U.S., car crashes are the number one killer of teens.

Responding Strongly to Social Rewards
Teens take more risks not because they don’t understand the dangers but because they weigh risk versus reward differently. In situations where risk can get them something they want, they value the reward more heavily than adults do. With a still-immature ability to control impulses and the intensity of dopamine-enhanced feel-good emotions, teenagers frequently have an imbalanced risk/reward context. That results in bad decisions and foolish mistakes. Often, their decisions seemed right at the time, even if later, after something bad happens, they understand exactly why it was a bad decision.

A Challenge, but also an Opportunity

Many look at teens as the problems because of their irregular and irrational behavior and decision-making, but there is also an opportunity to reach teens during these difficult years. Understanding their own brain behavior at work may help the analytical side of their thinking put the brakes on dangerous driving.*

Parents can influence their teens in many ways and help deviate them from making dangerous decisions on the road. Parents should:

• Start the conversation early and talk to their teens BEFORE they get their license.
• Create a driving agreement that includes Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) laws but is not limited to GDL laws.
• Make sure the vehicle their teen is driving is safe and that their teen understands how to maintain the vehicle.
• Apply distracted driving prevention technology to the car/phone.
• Monitor their teen’s driving on a daily basis, especially during the first year.

Get dozens of FREE safe teen driving resources from reputable resources all from one place at the UnderYOURInfluence Parent Toolkit!

Sources Derived from:  
National Geographic 
FYIDriving 
Adolescent Brains are Works in Progress

What are you views?

A new road safety campaign has been launched in Northern Ireland that focuses on the reality of road crashes; 95% of crashes in Northern Ireland are caused by human error and therefore could have been avoided. This challenges the notion that most crashes are ‘accidents’ that were unavoidable.

The main causes of crashes are speeding, drink driving and driver carelessness and the advert also warns pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists not to take risks. Casualties are at their lowest point since 1931in Northern Ireland, with 28 people killed on our roads so far this year, but Chief Superintendent Peter Farrar said it is possible to further cut numbers.

“If everyone slowed down, did not drive after taking drink or drugs, wore a seatbelt and drove with more care and attention then the number of deaths and injuries will reduce,” he said.

“Occasionally there will be times when something outside our control happens, like a flat tyre or a puncture, a dog walks out in front of the car; but 95% of the time it’s caused by human error.

“So I think all of us, if we look back, if we were in a collision, with hindsight would say well, actually there’s something I would do differently.”

Road Safety is no Accident – The theme of the World Youth Assembly 2007
The World Youth Assembly (WYA) that initatied the global youth movement for road safety brought together over 400 young people from over 100 countries to put road safety on the global agenda. This event operated under the banner of ‘road safety is no accident’.

Communications Officer, Manpreet Darroch said, ‘Calling avoidable crashes “accidents” gives the impression that the crash was not caused by human error but was rather fate. However, we know that if you are texting and driving, drink driving or undertaking other risky behaviour, a crash that is caused by this is not an accident. It is almost like proclaiming getting drunk was an accident while a person has been drinking all day’.

YOURS supports this campaign and urges drivers to challenge their own risky behaviour and be road safety models. There are no excuses to road safety and road safety is no accident.

View reactions to the advert at UTV Northern Ireland.