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Speed Kills: A Plan of Action
By Nurit and Amir
In 2000, 658 people died in car crashes in Israel. 75% of those deaths happened on highways and roads outside urban areas. It is interesting that even though 75% of all accidents happen in urban areas, only 1% of urban accidents result in death.
Why do fewer accidents result in MORE death? SPEED.
When cars have accidents at high speeds, people are more likely to die.
Our plan: Make drivers obey the speed limit
Speeds limits are planned with safety in mind. We suggest three things to encourage people to drive within the speed limit: enforcement, awareness campaign and starting at home.
- Enforcement
We need more patrols on the roads. Increased enforcement would pay for itself if part of each fine were paid to the State of Israel Police Force!
"In all, the IPF issues tickets totaling NIS 500,000,000. Money from tickets does not go to the IPF, but is paid directly into the treasury coffers. There is no correlation between the number of tickets issued by the IPF and the budget it is allocated. Were this not the case, I would probably not be writing this article; but rather writing tickets instead!"
from www.police.gov.il/english/Traffic/Traffic_Enforcement/xx_en_tr_8_enfor.asp*
Not all enforcement would have to be done by patrol officers. Half of 300,000 speeding tickets given in 1999, were automatic, caught by cameras. An automatic camera photographs around the clock, never gets hungry or tired, and can photograph about 10,000 speeders per year.
- Campaign
We asked 24 adults if they speed on the interurban highways and roads. 15 admitted that they do, most saying it's only a few kilometers per hour over the limit. We asked why they speed.
We don't think any of these are good reasons. When we talked to people, they said they didn't really think about why they speed, so we suggest that people START thinking about it!
We could ask the transportation ministry to help us post signs that read:
"If you're driving over the limit, ask yourself WHY. (Then slow down!)"
- Start at home
One Web site from America asked people what would work to keep them from breaking traffic laws. They said actions such as ticketing have an effect, but do you know what ELSE they said was effective? "Encouraging occupants to say something to the driver." That means having a passenger, a kid like you, ask the driver in a loving way to drive safely. You can do it yourself. Spread the word and save lives, maybe your very own! Our Sources
National Survey of Speeding and Other Unsafe Driving Actions, Volume III, Countermeasures, United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/outreach/traftech/pub/tt187.html*
Traffic, State of Israel
www.police.gov.il/english/Traffic/Facts_Figures/01_en_tr_4_accidents.asp*
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