Looking at Road Safety

Road traffic safety requires that all participants drive on the road safely to ensure that there is no harm caused or the driver of any vehicle does not cause damage to any other vehicle moving near or by it. So, it basically means to reduce the accident causes on street systems by supporting proper driving.

It is very important because road traffic crashes are one of the world’s largest public health and injury prevention problems. The issue is all the more pressing as the victims are overwhelmingly healthy prior to their incidences.

According to the World Health Organization, more than one million people are killed on the world’s roads each year. The standard measures used in assessing interventions are fatalities and Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) rates; they are usually measured per billion passenger kilometers.

In the United States, crashes per million vehicles miles is typically the system used to measure street safety. Speed is a key goal of modern road design, but impact speed affects the severity of injury to both occupants and pedestrians.

Injuries are caused by sudden, severe acceleration Kamagra Soft or deceleration which is very difficult to measure and keep track of. However, crash reconstruction techniques are used to estimate vehicle speeds before a crash occurs.

Therefore, the change in speed is used as a surrogate for acceleration. Interventions can take many different forms and contributing factors to highway crashes may be related to the driver (error, illness or fatigue), the vehicle (brake, steering or throttle failures) or the street itself (lack of sight, poor clear zones, weather conditions, etc.).

Interventions may seek to reduce or compensate for these factors or reduce the severity of crashes that normally do occur. A comprehensive outline of interventions areas can be viewed on the management systems for road safety website online.

Most casualties generally occur in or on roads in built up areas and major highways that are the safest. Reported street casualties in Great Britain for the year 2008 show that most fatalities occur on non built up roads.

On neighborhood roads, many are vulnerable users, such as pedestrians and bicyclists. Traffic calming can be a tool for road safety in these conditions.

Shared space schemes rely on human instincts and interactions like eye contact for their effectiveness. These are characterized by the removal of traditional traffic signals and signs, and even by the removal of the distinction between a carriageway (roadway) and foot way (sidewalk), which are also becoming increasingly popular; both approaches have proven to be quite effective.

Modern safety barriers are designed to absorb impact energy and minimize the risk to the occupants of a car as well as bystanders. For instance, most side rails are now anchored to the ground, so that they cannot skewer a passenger compartment.

Also, most light poles are designed to break at the base rather than violently stop a car that strikes them. Some street fixtures such as road signs and fire hydrants are designed to collapse on impact.

Highway authorities have also removed trees in the vicinity of roads while the idea of “dangerous trees” has attracted a certain amount of skepticism. Unforgiving objects such as trees can cause severe damage and injury to any delinquent road users.

Poor street conditions and surfaces may also lead to unsafe conditions. If too much asphalt or binder is used in the asphalt concrete, the binder can bleed or flush to the surface, leaving a very smooth surface that provides little traction when it is wet.

Many kinds of stone aggregate become very smooth or polished under the constant wearing action of vehicle tires, which will only lead to poor wet weather traction. Either of these problems can increase wet weather crashes by increasing braking distances or contributing to a loss of control.

If the pavement is insufficiently sloped of poorly drained, standing water on the surface can also lead to wet weather crashes which are caused by hydroplaning. This is far more common than drivers realize.

Lane markers in some countries and states are marked with bright reflectors that do not fade like paint does. They are not used where it is icy in the winter, because frost and snowplows can break the glue that holds them to the road.

Although, they can be embedded in short, shallow trenches carved in the roadway, as is done in the mountainous regions of California. All places are different, but it is always important to stay safe.

Author Bio: Tom Selwick is a public safety representative for 25 years and has authored hundreds of articles relating to public safety and barricades. He has worked in public safety for years promoting safe transportation practices.

Contact Info:
Tom Selwick
TomSelwick09@gmail.com
http://www.interwestsafety.com

Category: Culture and Society/Social Issues
Keywords: barricades

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