Accidents, Risk Assesment?

T

Tweak

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So recently we lost 2 very good drivers on a road near Beaufort West.

Its such a shame that they had to lose their lives as they were both so young and some of the kindest people I knew.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were some central information repository where we could see accident rates on all the roads our vehicles/families drive on. To be better informed before we set out on a trip someplace?
I wonder because after doing research on the accident our vehice was in, I found out that the locals alreaddy dubbed this road as the "Road of death". It's a shame other people don't have forewarning of accident rates before they put their lives on the line by driving there..

Maybe they can even incorporate this into a GPS software feature, where it not only reports on hidden traffic cameras but also high accident zones? Perhaps they already do this but I wouldn't know about these devices' features as I don't own one yet.

I believe it would be very beneficial if there were some way of calculating the risk of driving on any particular road, not only from a business/insurance point of a view but also a personal safety one.

There must be some repository out there, if you know of such a thing would you mind sharing it with me?

Thanks in advance
Tweak
 
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I think the Garmin GPS range already has a "High Accident Zone" warning on it. How extensive it is i don't know. As for Beaufort West (I assume you are talking about the N1) is well known as a high accident zone. A lot of those crashes are caused by driver fatigue.

The thing I often wonder about though is, how much of a difference such information actually makes. Think of it this way: We have speed restriction signs along all our roads, the main reason for those being safety, and not too many people really think twice about breaking the speed limit. I often find people's biggest concern is whether they will get caught or not, with little regard to the potential risk involved. Of course I am generalising and fortunately not everyone feels the same.
 
MFour said:
I think the Garmin GPS range already has a "High Accident Zone" warning on it. How extensive it is i don't know. As for Beaufort West (I assume you are talking about the N1) is well known as a high accident zone. A lot of those crashes are caused by driver fatigue.

The thing I often wonder about though is, how much of a difference such information actually makes. Think of it this way: We have speed restriction signs along all our roads, the main reason for those being safety, and not too many people really think twice about breaking the speed limit. I often find people's biggest concern is whether they will get caught or not, with little regard to the potential risk involved. Of course I am generalising and fortunately not everyone feels the same.
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I agree with that.

Thats why I feel we should erect a large cross where our drivers passed away.

This would hopefully stir up some emotion of the fellow passers by to atleast slow down for a short while.

Our truck collided with a taxi that was overtaking another vehicle. They both didn't see each other since they both met on top of a hill. If they only had some warning that there is limited to no visability of the road ahead..

But yeah I can understand how most accidents occur from fatigue since there is so little places to stop between Beaufort west and its sister towns. Our drivers all have co-drivers who are supposed to sleep while the main driver controls the vehicle and switch during long shifts.

I work as our company's tracking technician, I always keep thinking about better ways to improve on our fleet management sollutions if only the big companies could have adapted their system to incorporate some of my ideas.

Example the system could sms our drivers whenever they enter a high accident risk area. Automatically without me having to do the call myself (in the event they drive into the said area at 02:00 am in the morning).

There's deffinately not enough road signes next to the road. Its allmost impereative that drivers have access to speed limits and dangerous zones for the events where bords might have been stolen, maliciously damaged or run down by motorcars.

Thanks for taking interest in my topic and responding to it. I appreciate your input :)
 
Tweak said:
Our truck collided with a taxi that was overtaking another vehicle. They both didn't see each other since they both met on top of a hill. If they only had some warning that there is limited to no visability of the road ahead..

There's deffinately not enough road signes next to the road. Its allmost impereative that drivers have access to speed limits and dangerous zones for the events where bords might have been stolen, maliciously damaged or run down by motorcars.
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No amount of road signs, warnings etc. would have helped in a case like this. Overtaking on a blind rise is just plain stupid and there's not much you can do about stupidity.
 
Tweak said:
Our truck collided with a taxi that was overtaking another vehicle. They both didn't see each other since they both met on top of a hill. If they only had some warning that there is limited to no visability of the road ahead...
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Really sorry to hear about your drivers. The biggest problem is the bit that I put in bold. Surely the road would already have a double solid line on a blind rise? Unfortunately this does not deter the average motorist from overtaking on a solid line. The problem wasn't lack of warning, it was a total disregard for the rules of the road from the taxi's side.
 
The Beaufort West Road has been known as a high risk area for as long as I have been driving on it...originally with my dad back in the 50's and nothing has ever changed.

The long straight Karroo roads tend to put drivers into a semi comatose state, and no matter how many warnings you put up will change that fact. people drive too far and too fast in order to get through the Karroo, and that's always going to be the bottom line. Sending them an sms will only make things worse, as the comatose driver tries to read and drive at the same time.
 
Tweak said:
I agree with that.

Thats why I feel we should erect a large cross where our drivers passed away.

This would hopefully stir up some emotion of the fellow passers by to atleast slow down for a short while.

Our truck collided with a taxi that was overtaking another vehicle. They both didn't see each other since they both met on top of a hill. If they only had some warning that there is limited to no visability of the road ahead..

But yeah I can understand how most accidents occur from fatigue since there is so little places to stop between Beaufort west and its sister towns. Our drivers all have co-drivers who are supposed to sleep while the main driver controls the vehicle and switch during long shifts.

I work as our company's tracking technician, I always keep thinking about better ways to improve on our fleet management sollutions if only the big companies could have adapted their system to incorporate some of my ideas.

Example the system could sms our drivers whenever they enter a high accident risk area. Automatically without me having to do the call myself (in the event they drive into the said area at 02:00 am in the morning).

There's deffinately not enough road signes next to the road. Its allmost impereative that drivers have access to speed limits and dangerous zones for the events where bords might have been stolen, maliciously damaged or run down by motorcars.

Thanks for taking interest in my topic and responding to it. I appreciate your input :)
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No problem :) Traffic safety is something I am very passionate about. In fact I have made it my career.
Warning and tracking systems are useful tools, but in the end there is only one way to reduce driver risk, through education. The driver is the only person who can really make a difference to their risk exposure, no amount of technology can change that, but only aid the driver. In the end, it is the driver who has to make decisions regarding his surroundings and how to react to it, you cannot do this remotely.

It is a sad state of affairs that we have the likes of taxi drivers who simply have no regard to the consequences of their actions, this forces the rest of us just wanting to arrive at our destinations in one piece, to have to go the extra mile to enhance our safety. Not a fair situation, but unfortunately it is the reality of driving on our public roads.

I applaud you for making the effort to try and help your drivers, far too few companies/people can be bothered. Keep it up!
 
I wonder how slow the guy in front of the taxi was going at for making the taxi want to overtake. Not that the taxi should have overtook on a blind rise at all but if the driver in front drove a bit faster then the taxi wouldn't need/wouldn't have been able to overtake. Just shows that everyone on the road contributes to accidents in however small a way. The taxi is at fault though.
 
You know, if people just followed the road rules there would be a fair whack less.
If its a solid line, dont overtake, dont use yellow lanes except in emergencies, drive the speed limit, keep a decent following distance, when it rains drive slower and increase the following distance.

You cant stop freak accidents, but simply obeying the rules will cut down on a fair amount of road deaths.
 
tau1z said:
You know, if people just followed the road rules there would be a fair whack less.
If its a solid line, dont overtake, dont use yellow lanes except in emergencies, drive the speed limit, keep a decent following distance, when it rains drive slower and increase the following distance.

You cant stop freak accidents, but simply obeying the rules will cut down on a fair amount of road deaths.
Click to expand...

So true!
 
Suggestion, why not start a google map with all the known accident zones, dangerous roads, potholes, construction speedtraps, roadblocks(if you wanna assist @pigspotter), etc. Make it shared so other people can update it and make it a community updated thing.

http://maps.google.com and do one for South Africa, then just share the link here on my BB as a sticky or something. that way people who are behing firewalls at work can post updates on the sticky and a kind someone could update it
 
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