30 - Friday, July 26, 1991 ~ North Shore News AUTOMOTIVES Experts just can’t agree on road safety solutions AT A recent road safety conference held at the University of British Columbia, traffic safety experts were sharply divided on the best way to reduce the number of accidents on our highways. Experts from across North America presented arguments for designing and building _ better highways, building safer cars, im- proving driver education, increas- ing enforcement of traffic regula- tions, and encouraging a safer at- titude to driving. But there was no clear consensus on the most effec- tive means of making highways safer. For Jack Lisman, president and director of highway engineering for the B.C. Ministry of Trans- portation and Highways, properly designed highways are the most important factor in reducing acci- dents. “Poorly-designed, poorly-laid- out highways are the ones which have high accident rates. What | think we should be spending more time on is the planning of the physical plant...promoting to the greatest possible extent the con- centration of cars, or trips on the safest part of the highway system. As we know, freeways are the safest, with an accident record virtually an order of magnitude less than the winding two-iane highway system. One of the tasks then, is to reduce the amount of mileage, or number of crips which people actually carry cut on the lower class of roads.’’ Race car driver and chief in- structor for the Labatt’s Roads Scholarship, Gary Magwood, disagreed with Lisman. “It is us, you and I, the drivers who are responsible for the next quantum leap in making the highways safer. Not the car man- ufacturers, not the highway de- signers, not the researchers. All of us spend a considerable amount of time and energy on training and education for some aspect of our lives. Yet we spend maybe one one-thousandth of that time learn- ing how to handle a car under adverse conditions, and in an emergency. The chances of our Greg Wilson AUTOMOTION exposure to risks and injury (in a car accident) exceed everything else we do in our lives.” Al Lund, director and chief in- structor for the Pacific Traffic Education Centre, agreed with Magwood ‘‘Ninety per cent of accidents are the result of driver error. Al- though we have engireering and roac safety, it all comes back to the driver, it comes back to the big word of attitude.” Lund believes that more money should be spent on driver educa- tion, “If you’re proud of what you do, you will in fact change your attitude,’” explains Lund. Greg Yoest, executive director of policy planning and com- munications for Manitoba’s Justice Department believes that strict enforcement is the surest and quickest method of changing someone’s attitude. **We know that approximately 90% of accidents are caused by drivers’ mistakes and we also know you make a lot more mistakes when you've been drink- ing. Impaired driving remains one of the most serious avoidable causes Of accidents. In 1989, we brought in a program called Bill Three, where if we catch an im- paired driver we take away their license and impound their car for 30 days. It costs 250 bucks to get the car out at the end of 30 days.”* Yoest claims that this new pro- gram, in force since 1990, has been very effective. Criminal im- paired driving charges are down 12.6%, and the most serious charges, such as impaired driving causing bodily harm or death, are down 47.8%. “In 1990 we had 108 deaths on our highways, which was down 30.3% from the 155 deaths in 1989. We think we've saved 47 lives in one year,’’ says Yoest proudly. Yoest also maintains that en- forcement is the cheapest way io improve road safety, an important consideration as available tax dollars dwindle. “it’s all well and good to talk about improving your highways, safer cars, improving driver train- ing, but we are running our pro- grams at a profit for the taxpayer. In these days of severe deficits, this is something that is a lot easi- er to seli to the potiticians than selling them on a hundred million doliars to rebuild a stretch of highway.”’ Yoest is certain that imposing stricter sentences for violations will produce better results. “Policemen ana tough laws can have a very good effect upon drivers. 1 believe they can, and will produce the most significant reductions in accident fatalities on our highways.”’ NO TRADE-INS! | COME & TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS FINAL SALE! 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