Causes of Road Accidents and Safety Tips

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Example variable speed limit sign in the Unite...

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Road accidents are not easy to eradicate but can be reduced to its barest minimum.  The causes of road accident are caused by many factors. Do you believe that accident kills more than war kills. In Nigeria as an example, the civil war has ended for the past forty years and since then, accident has claimed more than what civil war claimed. Road accident takes live almost every day with different causes.

Accidents are caused by many reasons which involve the following;

  • Driving under the influence of alcohol: It is always advised not to drive when drunk and do not drink when wants to drive. Diving when drunk results in a ghastly accident with a very serious injury and most time leads to death. The driving under the influence of alcohol has no control, at 140km/h, it is still bellow speed limit to the drunk driver, and with that he does not see clearly; everywhere is a smooth road, no minimum and maximum turning of the vehicle steering is observed.
  • Over Speeding: Over speeding is the speed beyond the accepted or the speed limit on the particular road. If the speed limit accepted in a country is 100km/h, it does not mean that the maximum speed on all route is 100km/h. The speed limit in a high way is not the same as that on a one way route. Therefore every road has its own speed limit pegged on a safe range.
  • Under Utilisation of Seat Belt: Every vehicle has its own seat belt, even the recent cars has rear seat belts to protect the passengers. The seat belt holds the driver and the passengers in a position in the case of sudden stop/accident, to reduce the impact of …….
  • Poor Design and Poor maintenance of the Roads: Road design and poor maintenance of roads contributes immensely to the rate of road accident. A road constructed with sharp corners and narrow bridges is a gateway to accident.
  • Unsafe Vehicle Design: Some vehicles are bought without the back built, and while building it locally without proper intervention of professionals who can recommend the right material and measurement to them. When this is built with the wrong materials and measurement, it resulted in overweight, imbalance of on the road. When this happens, the end result is accident.
  • Lack of Road/Traffic sign: A road without traffic signs is like a trap that catches unaware. A driver does not know until he runs into a pot hole or sharp corner and lose control.
  • Poor Vehicle Maintenance: Many people love their jobs and businesses and as a result never border to check the condition of the vehicle they make use of, forgetting that whoever that is safe gets home.

The following are some of the main road safety tips to prevent accident occurrence:

  • Do not make use of mobile phone while driving. Pack before making, receiving or reading your text messages. Even making use of hand free phone can still distract ones attention, therefore, the best thing is to avoid using mobile phone while on wheel.
  • Slow down while you are driving in an area where there are people walking around like the streets, schools, ice cream van areas and bus stops. At the speed of 35km/h, it is twice as possible to kill someone hits at 30km/h.
  • Always take a break when driving a long distance. Tiredness has been discovered to be contributing up to a 10% of road accident. Plan to stop for at least 15minutes after 2 to 3hours of drive in a long journey.
  • Always make sure that the people at the rear use the seat belt. In an event of collision, unbelted passenger at the rear seat can kill the front passenger including the driver.
  • Drive defensively and anticipate other road users, use your mirrors regularly and consider other users who are not as good in driving as you, those that are not as careful as you, those that do not care about what can happen and those that are drunk.
  • Walk safely on the road, use pedestrian walk ways and cross the highways with the provided pedestrian bridges.  Put on fluorescent of reflective clothing in poor light condition areas for others to see you.
  • Fasten your child and baby seat properly and check them before every trip.
  • Keep a two second gap, a fifty meters gap between you and the car ahead of you.
  • Observe all traffic signs and use your digression where there is none. Do not over speed for you to be aware of what is ahead of you in time.
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