Road accidents vs Natural calamities

[NOV]

Lets take Malaysia as an example.

Over 70 deaths were reported over the last few months because of H1N1. There was nation-wide panic with ppl staying home, buying masks and hand wash soap like there was no tomorrow.

Next.... we just finished celebrating eid festival where large number of malaysians return home to thier hometowns or villages.
Ops Sikap was conducted to control road accidents.

The figure?
265 deaths in 7 days from 17,335 accidents.

You tell me, which is worse?

[NOV]

Technology has grown... we no use cell phones everywhere, including when driving. DO we use hands free sets? No, thats inconvenient.

Can things get worse?
Yes of course!
From speaking on the cell phones, we have progressed to sending sms while driving!

Want to see what happens next?

Watch this: http://www.thedailybeast.com/video/i...ti-texting-psa

Warning: Its graphic!

[NOV]

Pay Attention or Pay The Price!

[Plum]

NOV, Road accidents are random. If your neighbour catches Swine flu, chances are you need to be extra-careful. There is no such correlation in the case of road accidents. The panic is explained thus.

But the real clincher is that statistics seem to suggest that normal flu takes more lives than Swine flu - a fact very triumphantly quoted by certain people to show off. However, even there we must remember that the averages for normal flu have been normalised over a long period of time, and a statistical comparison with the short sample space of swine flu doesnt make sense at all.

[NOV]

my question is when we take so many precautions (including closing schools) for a pandemic, why not the same urgency for preventing road accidents, where the calamity rate is much higher.

[app_engine]

Very good topic NOV!

While there are many factors responsible for accidents, only a few can be "attacked" for corrective measures.

For example, nothing can be done about "carelessness", the prime culprit, as it's something every human has and is not going to go away with organized effort / law etc. Though education from childhood helps, big spending on this (i.e. to try to prevent "carelessness") may not get much dividend quickly.

Those that can definitely be done are :

1. Improved road conditions with "built-in-idiot-proof" safety features. (e.g. no possibilty of opposite traffic to "meet", separate foot path and ability to cross only at specific points etc)

2. Strong rules / law (e.g. ban of driving under influence of alcohal)

3. Strict enforcement of procedures in granting license (Proper testing and screening)

4. Uncorrupt & severe punishment of violations (with the kind of volume and traffic in U.S., the accidents are a fraction compared to India, for e.g. This is one main reason; a ticket not only costs a lot of money but also spoils the driving record resulting in ongoing punishments like increase in insurance costs etc)

All these are within the gov control and they should have the willingness to implement these seriously, if they are concerned about the loss of lives / limbs etc.

[NOV]

as a matter of fact a_p, I am not asking for, god forbid, govt interference.

its the common man - unnaipol oruvan - who need to make the difference.
sorry to say this, you brush off carelessness rather carelessly.

one needs to be 100% alert on the road. just like an airline pilot - not even an error of 0.001% is tolerated, because such an error costs lives.

[MrIndia]

its human mentality...
road accidents are in small chunks.. if u spend money in bar like 20$ a day ... in a month its like 600$

but if u lost or spend 600$ on one shopping.. it will look huge.

[app_engine]

as a matter of fact a_p, I am not asking for, god forbid, govt interference.

its the common man - unnaipol oruvan - who need to make the difference.
sorry to say this, you brush off carelessness rather carelessly.

one needs to be 100% alert on the road. just like an airline pilot - not even an error of 0.001% is tolerated, because such an error costs lives.

Hey, I'm not brushing off carelessness - just being practical that people will always tend to be careless unless someone is "controlling" them. Also, the tendency to break / circumvent rules seems to be inborn and unless severe punishment is administered, people don't seem to understand the benificiery effects of any restriction. OTOH, once they're scared to follow rules, they get used to it and it becomes a habit that comes naturally in course of time.

One of my relatives used to be / is a heavy cell phone user while driving. When he moved to NY state where it's restricted (only handsfree allowed), he initially had so much of irritation. There was this tendency to use when cop was not in sight. Also this big sigh of relief when he was out of NY state where he can latch on to his handset.

In a couple of years, however, he has changed and is now not using the handset even in MI So, any discipline is felt difficult initially but once someone get used to it, they don't feel that way anymore - why, even start liking it.

Also it's always easy when someone / something else controls us, though self-control is definitely a higher virtue

Comparison with a pilot on carefulness, IMO, is unfair. Unlike in the case of aircraft, on road you can only be <50% "careful" as there are tons of others who can potentially be careless. That's why governance plays a big role. (Governance is actually much more strict in the case of air traffic, just FYI. Also, there are many other facts like the degree of professional training the pilot gets, the natural limiting of the hours he flies, the high level of automation / safety features built on the aircraft etc that enhance carefulness).

[NOV]

I dont think govt can make much of difference in people's habits. Your relative seems to be an exception.

You know how strict are Singaporean laws.
Well, you expect its ppl to be disciplined for life too. But thats not to be.

The minute they step into Johore, they start littering, speeding, and most ridiculously purchasing large amounts of chewing gum.

I dont think there is a substitute to good bringing up.