Garth Rattray | A formula for death

Every time that I promise myself to stop writing about motor vehicle crashes, something happens to draw me back in. A few Fridays ago, I became aware of several fatal motor vehicle crashes, all on that same day. These premature deaths are very avoidable. It hurts to see the unnecessary carnage repeated over and over and over again.

Figures from the World Health Organization revealed that, in 2018, 90 per cent of fatal road traffic crashes were due to human error … five per cent were caused by road-related factors, three per cent were due to faulty vehicles, and two per cent were caused by unknown factors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (of the United States of America) had fairly similar figures in 2019. However, it attributed 94 per cent of fatal crashes to human error. I expect that the figures for Jamaica are very similar, but getting information from the Jamaica Constabulary Force has become increasingly difficult … and I wonder why. Of course, by ‘human error’ they usually mean people doing things like speeding excessively, overtaking dangerously, driving carelessly, following too closely (tailgating), ignoring road markings, ignoring traffic signs, and ignoring traffic lights.

Sadly, the people that cause deadly crashes know nothing about the laws of physics. There is a formula that will tell you what will happen if you collide into something. The formula for calculating impact force is, force is equal to the change in momentum divided by the change in time. F= Δp/Δt. And, the change in momentum is equal to the mass multiplied by the change in velocity. Δp = m(Δv).

CHANGE IN MOMENTUM

Therefore, if your vehicle’s mass is represented by ‘m’ (the heavier the vehicle, the higher this number will be), and if your speed is such that, when you come to a full stop, because you crash, the difference between your speed and zero will be great (the faster that you are travelling, the higher this number will be). The faster that you are travelling when you crash, the greater the change in your momentum.

Now, put a large change in momentum (Δp) into the formula for the impact force (F= Δp/Δt). Then take note that, the shorter the time as the impact occurs, the smaller the Δt. So, with a huge Δp and a very small Δt, the impact force (F) will be extremely high, and will result in destruction and death.

But drivers do not have to know physics to know that excessive speeding, overtaking dangerously, driving carelessly, following too closely (‘tailgating’), ignoring road markings, traffic signs, and traffic lights are wrong, all it takes is common sense. Our road users are exhibiting traits of ignorance, aggression, selfishness, bullyism, disdain for the law, and a penchant for driving fear into other road users.

People will not miraculously change their bad driving habits, and our methods of reducing road deaths are being met with limited success. In fact, I strongly believe that one of the reasons that the rise in road fatalities is not commensurate with the ever-increasing number of vehicles on the road and with the increasing number of bad drivers is that the good drivers are adapting to the bad drivers – they are learning to expect and to anticipate the ridiculous things that bad drivers do and they are practising far more evasive and defensive driving as a survival instinct.

We need to revamp the way that our roads are policed. There has never been any major or fatal crash wherever drivers see the police stationed, checking speed and/or checking documents. However, all hell breaks loose whenever bad drivers believe that the police are not around. It is blatantly obvious that, if we want to reduce the carnage on our roads, we must evolve. The overwhelming use of static traffic policing is archaic.

WARN THEIR COLLEAGUES

It is a well-known fact that taxi drivers use cell phones to warn their colleagues of the whereabouts of the [stationary] traffic police. Additionally, road users signal one another and there’s also an app that may help locate the [stationary] police. Furthermore, drivers quickly become accustomed to where the traffic police are parked and waiting for drivers to come their way.

The traffic police have to diversify by travelling in and among the traffic. Some will need to drive around in unmarked police cars, and Yeng Yeng motorbikes. This way, they will see the unadulterated madness unfold and will be able to prosecute the law breakers. After a while, drivers will know that the traffic police are not only parked along some roadways, they will know that any other road user could be the traffic police. The craziness will definitely abate significantly, and many lives will be saved.

Heavy traffic fines increase the government revenue and act as a deterrent to some drivers, but we all know that rogue traffic cops use the threat of excessive fines and point accumulation to extort motorists. I have seen that some have even borrowed regular police cars and park on the highway to masquerade as highway police but are in reality, uniformed highwaymen who rip off motorists.

Depending on the severity of the breach, for some traffic offences, citizens should be given the choice of a fine with points or a reduced fine and no points if they participate in traffic school, after work hours and at several convenient venues. We can’t go on like this, our roads are scary and deadly.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com