The four causes of road accidents

A few days before Christmas, or any time, for that matter, is not the best time to meet a road accident. With too many incompetent, irresponsible drivers roaming around the cities, or shall we say drug addicts and drunkards masquerading as licensed drivers, the probability of injuries and death is rising every minute nowadays. Experience teaches us that there are at least four factors that cause road accidents in the Philippines, and perhaps anywhere in the world. These are, first, Human Errors, Incompetence or Irresponsibility; Second, Vehicle and Mechanical Defects/Malfunction; Third, Bad Conditions of the Road; and Fourth, Bad weather conditions.

The most rampant of these is, of course, human errors, incompetence, and irresponsibility. But let us discuss the other factors first. A number of times, there is nothing wrong with the driver. It is the vehicle that is defective or is malfunctioning. When there is no brake or the brake system is malfunctioning, the probability of accident is 100%. But then, if we really think it over, to drive without first conducting a safety inspection of the condition of the vehicle is also the height of human incompetence and irresponsibilty. The third factor is bad road conditions. Lack of maintenance of roads is another indication of human incompetence and irresponsibility.

The fourth factor is bad weather. Of course, it can be argued ad nauseam that storms, typhoons, floods, and other natural disasters are acts of God, or fortuitous events, or force majeure, which, ordinarily, are beyond the control of man. Granting them to be so, then it is still human irresponsibility to continue travelling despite zero visibility, strong winds, and rains. Anybody who insists to drive despite inclement weather or heavy downpour, or while the storm or tropical depression is raging, is committing a virtual suicide. He or she cannot blame any third party, much less the government if he meets a road accident and dies.

Coming now to the most rampant among the four factors, which is human errors, incompetence and irresponsibility, we hasten to qualify that human acts maybe by means of deliberate intent or are results of errors in judgment, lack of foresight or lack of skills. If an accident is caused because of deliberate intent, then the guilty driver should be meted the most stringent penalty. If he causes death or serious physical injuries, his drivers' license should be confiscated and nullified, and he should not be given another license at least for a period of five years.  And if he is criminally prosecuted for homicide, he should be meted with imprisonment in its maximum period.

Human errors, incompetence and irresponsibility can take various forms like drunk driving, overspeeding, violations of traffic rules, like entering a one-way street, overtaking in no-overtaking zones, abrupt maneuvers, and bad turns and reverses, adjusting speeds and changing directions abruptly. All these are acts in defiance of the cardinal guidelines on defensive driving. Because of these, in the year 2012, there were 82,787 road accidents with 412 deaths. In 2011, there were 77,110 accidents and 396 deaths. And in 2010, there were 77, 946 accidents and 419 deaths. These are the events that you would not want to happen in a Christmas season like this, or any time, for that matter. And so, we should all drive safely and take full responsibility for all the four factors we have discussed above. No more and no less.