Maddie Gallagher Professors Wolaver and Doces UNIV 220 4/15/14 Global Road Standards Introduction: Roads in the developing world, in Africa specifically, are rarely held to the same standards as those in the developed world. As a result, there are over one million deaths associated with these roads each year. In order to combat this problem, I recommend countries in the developing world adopt a comprehensive legislation package mandating specific construction standards for roads that minimize the impact of human error, a minimum quota of infrastructure spending to be devoted to implementing these safety features, and strict vehicle safety regulations with respect to drunk driving, speed limits, school zones, and the number of passengers permitted in vehicles. The past three decades have been marked by a slew of international aid projects desired to bring roads to rural regions in the developing world (Economist: Wheel, 2014). Extending road access to these remote areas promotes economic growth and development as it allows residents the opportunity to sell their goods to a much wider market, seek healthcare from facilities that had previously been out of their reach, and easily send their children to better schools in surrounding areas (Khayesi 2005). The roads also granted easy access to aid workers wishing to travel in to these remote areas (WHO 2013). These projects have accomplished their goals in many cases: income and access to healthcare and education in many rural villages around the world have increased.
Gallagher 2 In many other cases there have been unintended consequences. Most of the roads built throughout the developing world are not held to the same safety standards as those in the developed world, often with drastic consequences. Unsafe roads take a tremendous toll on human lives around the world: road-related deaths are in the top three leading causes of death for 17 to 47 year-olds and could soon become the fifth leading cause of death for people of all ages worldwide (Chen 2010). Annually, an estimated 1.3 million people are killed on the road (irap 2012) and 50 million more are injured (Shami 2005). As more development occurs worldwide and average income continues to rise, car ownership or travel by car is becoming more common causing already unsafe roads to become more heavily traveled, leading to more deaths (Nordberg 2000). The rising world population contributes to more foot-traffic on either side of the road, posing dangers to drivers and pedestrians alike (United Nations, 2011). In recent years, the problem has become so severe that the United Nations designated the decade from 2011-2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety. In order to reduce the number of road-related deaths and their subsequent impact on society many governments and NGO's have set out to create safer roads that are safer for pedestrians, motorists, and cyclists. The World Health Organization and the International Road Assessment Programme have been on the forefront of this movement. Impact on the developing world: Approximately 85% of the 1.3 million deaths that are attributed to roads and motor vehicles each year occur in the developing world. Currently this problem is the worst in Africa, which owns 2% of the world s vehicles but makes up 16% of the motor vehicle accident fatalities; 62% of the deaths in Africa were young people aged 16 to 44 (WHO 2013). The death and injury rates fall disproportionally on young men, who are either current or future family breadwinners (Economist: Driving, 2013). These young men would soon become the backbone
Gallagher 3 of their country s workforce in addition to the main source of income for their mostly poor families (WHO 2013). When the person responsible for the main income of the family is maimed or killed, the family suffers not only from a lack of income but also from increased medical costs, as affordable healthcare or health insurance are rarities in the developing world. When these young men are injured either fatally or in a way that precludes them from working in the future, family income suffers, making it more difficult for that family to rise from poverty for another generation (Lagarde, 2007). This also then requires that younger family members leave the education system in search of work. In terms of medical bills, lost wages, and vehicle damage, the cost of road injuries can top 10% of GDP in some desperately poor countries (Economist: Wheel, 2014). The workforce is being devastated by road-related deaths and injuries and these workers are being replaced uneducated, less capable workers. This takes a toll on the international investment, as investors are hesitant to invest in a country with an uneducated, unstable workforce and no prospect of safely and easily moving their goods across the country. In the lowest income countries, the victims of motor vehicle accidents are pedestrians walking along the side of the road or attempting to cross the highway in the middle because there are no proper pedestrian crosswalks. In this very low-income bracket, workers often cannot afford a car so they walk or take the bus to work. With no requirement for sidewalks, these workers are forced to walk on the inadequate shoulder that puts them in the line of traffic. In countries with slightly more disposable income, the bulk of the victims shift to motorcyclists or lorry-drivers. There are no areas to pass on many of these roads, so crashes and casualties often result when one motorist attempts to pass another without adequate space for both passing cars and pedestrians. Pedestrian casualties are often high in these cases as well because there is no
Gallagher 4 guardrail to shield those not in a motorized vehicle from the crash (Economist: Driving, 2013). In the developed world, there has been a drastic downward trend in the number of vehicle related deaths, which has been attributed to strict vehicle safety standards and a crackdown on speeding and drunk driving. Most of the developing world has not seen anything like this so their accident and fatality rates continue to rise (Economist: Wheel, 2014). Policy Recommendations: Roads need to be built with the notion that humans are imperfect beings in mind. We cannot prevent all traffic accidents around the world indefinitely - humans will make errors and, unfortunately, at times those errors will be harmful to themselves and others (irap 2012). What we can do is design roads to be as forgiving as possible when human error occurs. In order to diffuse the effect of most human error, roads should be equipped with rumble strips along all edges to alert drivers before they leave the road and to provide a buffer zone between drivers and pedestrians on the side of the road so that if and when a driver begins to stray within their lane, there is room for them to realize their mistake before they collide with pedestrians. Rumble strips along either side of the road will also help in this respect by jarring drivers into realizing they are driving in an unsafe area. Furthermore, sidewalks need to not only be provided, but also be equipped with a curb and guardrail; this cannot shield pedestrians from all crashes at all speeds, but it will protect them in many cases. All highways and high-traffic roads must be delineated in a noticeable and even obvious way to designate the correct place for traffic going each direction, pedestrians and cyclists (irap 2012). The median barrier must be imposing enough to clearly delineate opposing lanes of traffic and discourage jaywalking, but also be made of some sort of energy absorbing material
Gallagher 5 (so that cars cannot move into oncoming traffic) after a buffer zone to allow space for drivers to recognize their error before they collide with the barrier (irap 2012). In many cases there is not a designated crosswalk or place for pedestrians to safely cross the road, so they resort to running into traffic to cross. On high-speed roads or areas of low visibility, drivers are unlikely to be able to identify a person in the road and come to a stop in order to avoid an accident. All intersections on both high and low traffic roads must be designed in a way that minimizes the possibility of collision. This begins away from the intersection with proper signage denoting the upcoming opposing traffic, the cross-route for directional purposes and possibly designating right-of-way. On a closer scale, intersections must be well lit so that drivers can easily see any changing traffic patters and pedestrians. Traffic lights, stop signs and yield signs are important to this goal. Intersections should also be equipped with pedestrian accommodations such as crosswalks, walk signs, and sidewalks with curbs (irap 2012). Designated pedestrian crossing and walking areas will discourage jay walking or any other form of pedestrian interaction with traffic. Roundabouts, as a replacement to the traditional intersection, have been shown to reduce accidents because they provide a means of giving right-of-way based on common convention and simply following predetermined traffic patterns rather than any system of gestures or interactions between drivers (Federal Highway Administration 1995). Roundabouts also serve to automatically slow drivers' approach to the intersection, which can also be accomplished with raised cross walks or speed bumps in the space leading up to the intersections. When accidents occur at lower speeds, their effects are much less severe and their impact on the lives of those involved is lessened (Economist: Gyres, 2014).
Gallagher 6 The road-related casualties of a country can be reduced through legislative means as well as through the physical construction of roads. Most importantly, the suggestions made in the previous section of this paper need to be incorporated into existing laws and building regulations so that all new construction is forced to comply with stringent safety regulations (United Nations, 2011). Legislatures can also take action by proposing legislation for national speed limit and seat-belt laws (United Nations, 2011). Laws enacted to limit the number of people in a single vehicle and give police the power to pull someone over for not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle have also proven effective in reducing casualties from road accidents by protecting those involved in the accident from critical or life threatening injury, even if they cannot prevent the accident from occurring in the first place (Odero 1997). Furthermore, countries need to adopt national helmet and seatbelt laws as well as harsh punishments for speeding, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and distracted driving. These punishments could serve as deterrents for these incredibly dangerous behaviors while also encouraging safer driving habits and decreasing the frequency of driver error. Once these goals for safety and legislation are met, countries are still not through. These standards must be upheld over time in order to reach their full effect on the population. Countries must designate a point organization to be responsible for monitoring road safety and implementing changes to improve any safety deficiencies found. This organization must be adequately funded and given the power to enact some sort of punishment or sanction against non-compliers (United Nations, 2011). Countries also need to find an effective way to disseminate information about road safety to the population. Without an educational program, many of the unsafe behaviors taking place with regard to roads will continue rendering the
Gallagher 7 physical safety aspects of the roads ineffective in combating the rising road-deaths in the developing world. In the mid-1990 s the road death rate in Rwanda was one of the highest in the world, with a death occurring roughly every 2.5 hours. Its government took on the nation s dangerous infrastructure as a way to help the country heal from the recent genocide, enacting a package of laws similar to the ones described above. This package was combined with a wide-reaching education campaign to teach the nation about road safety for both drivers and pedestrians. In order to enforce the harsh speeding and drunk driving penalties, the police force was enlarged and investigated for corruption. Over a ten-year period, road deaths were decreased by over 30% to roughly 300 per year. This number is still higher than the global average, so the package has been expanded as Rwanda continues to fight to combat road-related deaths and injuries (Brown, 2007). Goals: A well-made and well-maintained infrastructure is critical to the success of a country in the event of any sort of military action. In order to defend themselves in the event of an invasion, countries need to be able to quickly mobilize to move troops and equipment across the country to wherever they are needed. In smaller countries in the developing world, military forces are often not large enough to be well dispersed throughout the country, instead they are often centered in a few places around the country, meaning that they may need to travel great distances very quickly in order to defend themselves (Burningham, 2005). This ability is greatly impeded when roads are either non-existent or poorly constructed and maintained. Once roads are damaged or in disrepair, it is not feasible to expect to move heavy military equipment and
Gallagher 8 mass quantities of troops on them (Levik, 2014). When a country cannot adequately or efficiently mobilize its armed forces, it is not secure at all, and its people are at risk of a possible invasion or military attack. As important as well-made, well-maintained roads are on a national security level, they are also important on a more personal level. Roads provide a link between communities and medical care, especially in emergency situations. In remote areas ambulatory care is often only given in extreme situations when the patient is in desperate need on medical care. In these cases, patients often do not have time to wait while drivers try to navigate substandard roads riddled with ditches and potholes. Critically sick or injured patients in the developing world often do not have the luxury of a hospital nearby and are therefor forced to suffer long rides or walks on extraordinarily unsafe roads in order to gain access adequate medical care. Safe roads also provide an important means of communication for isolated rural residents. When safe roads exist connecting one community to another, important exchanges take place. These exchanges can be economic: roads connect residents to new markets for their goods and potential employees to new job opportunities. These exchanges can also be informational. As people in remote areas begin to communicate and discuss the issues that are important to them, they form a bond, effectively expanding their own community (Khayesi 2005). Furthermore, safe roads allow for extensive movement throughout the country, whether that movement is from rural areas to cities, city to city or within rural areas. The construction and maintenance of safe roads drastically increases the ability of poor rural residents to move in order to secure a better paying job (Keane, 1996). This increase in liberty allows formerly rural residents to become productive members of the workforce and to easily move around in pursuit of better wages or working conditions. These safer roads effectively allow people the
Gallagher 9 opportunity to control and change their own circumstances. When there is a stable, educated workforce, industry will be able to enter the country s economy, bringing added income with it. Conclusion: Packages including funding for safety improvement and legislation regulating road safety have been in place and working in Europe for decades. In Sweden, a pioneer in the field of road safety, roads that meet stringent safety standards like the ones described above and where harsh penalties for reckless driving are in place account for only 3% of road deaths despite handling roughly 30% of the country s traffic flow (irap 2012). Programs like this put into effect in the developing world could save millions of lives, contributing to workforce and GDP at a relatively low cost. The developed world has made great strides in decreasing the number of road deaths by increasing the safety of roads, but little of this has trickled down to the developing world. The notable exception to this, of course, is the anomaly of Rwanda discussed above. The proven progress made in Rwanda could be cheaply and easily replicated throughout the developing world. The 1.3 million people killed each year in road-related incidents is more than the number of child deaths linked to unclean water (Wallace 2013) or Malaria (WHO 2014) and yet this issue has received very little attention. Safe roads and infrastructure are in integral part of a country s development. Plenty of aid projects fund medical care and education in the developing world, but those programs are of little use if millions of young people are killed or maimed on their way to use them. There not a large counter argument for spending on safe infrastructure, other than that the money should be spent elsewhere. The flaw in that argument is that infrastructure is an integral part of the development of a country. When roads are safe and
Gallagher 10 useable, investment and industry are more likely to come into the country. Safe roads also lend themselves to a larger more educated workforce, as fewer of them are killed commuting to work and younger siblings can finish school. Safe and reliable infrastructure, starting with roads serves as a catalyst to development. Worldwide roughly $500 billion is spent annually on infrastructure construction. Between 1 and 5% of this money is dedicated to the safety features of the roads being constructed (United Nations, 2011). In most cases, developers with limited budgets choose to get the most road, distance-wise, with their money rather than settle for a slightly shorter road that is dramatically safer to travel on or near, contributing to the volume of unsafe yet frequently traveled roads in the world. The United Nations calls for 10% of all infrastructures funding globally, but especially in the developing world to be earmarked for safety features by 2020 in its Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. If this small portion of funding is allocated to safety precautions for motorists and pedestrians using roads in the developing world, thousands of lives could be saved annually. This money should be devoted to updating the safety features of existing roads, building new roads to higher safety specifications, enforcing strict drunk driving, seatbelt and speed limit laws, and educating the public on road safety.
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