Driving up our road safety consciousness

                                                    
The door bell rang. The house help went to get the door. It turned out to be my neighbour who wanted me to move my car at the back of his so he could drive out. I got the car key and made for the door. But trust my three-year-old son Clinton to want to follow. He loves to ride in a car. I do oblige him. At the car I sat him in his usual position at the back and went in front. I started the ignition. Then, came Clinton’s cry! I have come to know that cry. Right from age two he would never, ever be driven without his seat belt strapped, not even for a distance as short as driving within the compound. For all his love for riding in a car, even a three-year-old knows it is no game.

Car accidents have killed many and are still killing. It remains the number one cause of shattered dreams. The Lagos sate government as a way of helping to reduce accidents and make road users more responsible last year came up with a traffic law. Among the outlawed are driving without seat belts, eating, drinking while driving, counting money while driving and making phone calls while driving without hands free. But according to a new finding even using hands free phones may not be all that safe. This was made known in a study by the AAA Foundation for Safety, in Washington, DC. The researchers led by David Strayer of the University of Utah looked at how mental activities distract drivers.
Strayer and his colleagues divided 102 volunteers into three groups. Each of the participants wore an electrode-laden hat and was given eight 10-minute tasks to perform. The electrode-laden hat records what is known as their Event-Related Brain Potentials (ERPs, a way of determining mental workload). The eight tasks were: working on nothing; listening to the radio; listening to an audio book; conversing with a passenger; calling a friend using a hand-held phone; calling a friend using a hands-free phone; using speech to send a text message; and, solving mathematical problems and word memory.

The first group performed the tasks while sitting at a computer. The second did theirs in simulators resembling the inside of a car, and they followed another car on a screen. The third group drove real cars. The participants’ reaction times were evaluated; their level of concentration was tested by observing how long it took drivers to brake when the car in front of them did; they measured the distance they kept between their car and the one in front of them; and if they looked out for danger signs on the road.

The researchers consolidated the results they got into one number which represented the overall mental task created. Working on nothing was given a value of 1.0 and juggling maths and word-memory believed to be the hardest task was given 5.0.
Listening to the radio or to a book caused the least distractions with scores of 1.21 and 1.75. When the person talks to a passenger it is 2.33, when on a hands free phone it is 2.27 and if a hand-held it is 2.45. Where 5.0 is the most distracted what caused the most distraction was the hands free texting at 3.06, what The Economist called “worryingly high.”

Lack of concentration remains an important potential cause of accident. According to the New York Times, there are suggestions to ban the use of all communication devices by drivers except the emergency ones.

Similarly, Mike Rogers a driving instructor says when we drive it is natural to look at the vehicle in front of you. Or just at your sides or your rear mirrors. But it is important to always look further ahead while driving. This is called “aiming high in steering”. It means looking way down the road. That you don’t make your steering adjustment based on what is directly in front of you. He says instead look way down the road. For example, that if the road is winding to the right, you look as far into the turn as possible. If you do this you will notice that your turns are not only smoother, but you are making your self safer.

Rogers says proper safe driving requires that you constantly ask and answer questions in your head. But he warns: “but remember, don’t ever fixate on one thing. Always keep your eyes moving and shifting!”

Many things that seem ordinary on the road could turn into a hazard. And if you realize the danger early you will be prepared for it. Scanning ahead will also make you drive smoother.  You will have less sudden stops and hard braking during your drives because you will not be taken by surprise. People have crashed to their death because they wanted to avoid a goat, while on top speed. “Normal speed meets every need.”

Of course on the road you will meet drivers of different temperament. This brings me to the aggressive driver. According to AAA Foundation for Safety once more, “Any unsafe driving behavior, performed deliberately and with ill intention or disregard for safety, can constitute aggressive driving.” An aggressive driver is a danger to every road user and to themselves.

The Foundation says nothing makes another driver angrier than an obscene gesture. You should keep your hands on the wheel. Avoid making any gestures that might get another driver angry, even “harmless” expressions of irritations like shaking your head. You should always be a cautious and courteous driver. Signal every time you merge or change lanes, and whenever you turn. This is particularly so in our culture where we are all always in a hurry. (This is where danfo drivers can drive dangerously from Oshodi to Mile 2 in the name of “reversing!”)

But Nigerians are more considerate than you might think. Just a little plea gesture to the next driver and they will allow you in front of them or to maneuver instead of making it a contest. Be always ready to tell the other driver “Be my guest.”

Give angry drivers lots of room. Do not under any circumstances pull off to the side of the road and try to settle things “man to man.” You can drive to a place where there are people around, such as a police
station, convenience store, shopping center, or even a hospital. Use your horn to get someone’s attention. This will usually discourage an aggressor. Do not get out of your car. Multiple accidents have occurred from this.



Perhaps most importantly, you must adjust your attitude. The most important actions you take to avoid accidents take place inside your head. Driving is a risk. Being driven is even riskier. We should let our brain do the driving. Having worked in the Accident and Emergency I know the full impact of road traffic accidents. But if we all change our attitude to driving, we can make every trip not only pleasant but a lot safer.



Dr Cosmas Odoemena

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