Road Safety Campaign

Glen Edmunds Performance Driving School has partnered with their sponsor Monroe Shock Absorbers in a safe driving campaign for East Africa. Monroe is promoting safe driving by encouraging motorists to fit their cars with the recommended car suspension system and Glen Edmunds Performance Driving School is promoting safe driving through the multiple courses that the offer such as defensive driving, security driving, 4WD training and much more. The complete article can be read in the East Africa Standard on page 13.

Not Wearing a Seat Belt Contributed to Princess Diana's Death

photo from BBC
The BBC reports the following: "The inquest found Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were unlawfully killed due to the "gross negligence" of driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi." Reports also state that Princess Diana was not wearing a seatbelt and this also contributed to her demise.

Princess Diana is a prime example of what can happen when you are not wearing a seatbelt. Yes, the accident still would have happened, but would she still be alive if she was wearing her seat belt? Possibly so. Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety-related behavior. 63% of people killed in accidents are not wearing seat belts. Wearing a seat belt is still the single most effective thing we can do to save lives and reduce injuries.

We all know about the dangers of not wearing a seat belt. Yet, many people still don't wear one.

Many people have a lot of excuses for not buckling up. Some say that they don't bother with seat belts when not going far. However, did you know that 80% of traffic fatalities occur within 25 miles of home and under 40mph?

Many people say, “I have air bags all around my car. Why do I need a seat belt?”

Air bags cushion impact. It’s better to strike the deflating air bag than the immovable dashboard. However, a seat belt protects you from the air bag.

Airbags explode in front of you at 200mph.

An airbag deploys so fast that it seems to inflate and deflate before the explosive sound is over. When you move abruptly forward in a car accident, the safety seat belt stops you quickly as the air bag approaches your chest. Even with the seat belt on you may feel like someone punched you hard in the sternum a day or two after the accident. However, without the seat belt on, you risk serious injury from the air bag alone.

Some people say they can't be bothered to take the time to put on a seat belt. It takes 3 seconds to buckle up. Dead is Forever.

Wear a seat belt to significantly increase the chance of surviving a car accident.

UN Report On International Road Safety

UN Secretary-General issues his first report on international road safety

UN Photo/Mark Garten

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, has published his first report to the UN General Assembly on progress in international road safety. The Report calls upon Member States to continue using the WHO-World Bank World report on road traffic injury prevention as a framework for road safety efforts, and to pay particular attention to the risk factors mentioned in this report. It also calls on Member States to be cognisant of the safety needs of vulnerable road users, for example through improvements for public transport and separate road space for pedestrians and cyclists. In his report the UN Secretary-General calls for a ministerial conference on road safety to be held under the auspices of the UN in the near future and also stresses the need for an appropriate global tool to monitor progress.

The report summarizes achievements from the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration, a network of more than 40 agencies facilitated by the World Health Organization. Among the major recent achievements highlighted is the First UN Global Road Safety Week held in April 2007 and celebrated through hundreds of national events focussed on youth and road safety as well as World Youth Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. The Report also draws attention to a series of good practice manuals developed by partners from the UN Road Safety Collaboration and aimed at addressing some of the key risk factors for road traffic injuries - drink driving, seat-belts, helmets, speed, visibility, etc.

Child Safety in Vehicles

I was quite horrified today when I noticed a big white Toyota Prado pull onto a main road with two young children on the roof aged approximately 5 & 6 years old! They probably only traveled 1/2 kilometre before turning into a country club, but it was a busy road on a Saturday afternoon. Things can go wrong so quickly and I'm amazed that parents risk their children's lives for a bit of fun. In fact, a friend's child fell off a roof while on a drive in a game park and the vehicle accidentally rolled over the child causing serious injury. I know no one would purposely hurt their child, but sometimes people just don't think things through.

I've also noticed multiple times how parents let their young children sit on their laps in the front seat on a car with their noses pressed against the windscreen. Or they are allowed to stand up freely on the seat beside the driver or even in the back seat. Kenya has one of the worst road fatality records on the continent. Eight people are killed every day due to road accidents in Kenya. That means that some one dies every 3 hours from road accidents. Don't you think our children deserve every chance they can get to stay alive while traveling in vehicles on our very dangerous roads? PLEASE make sure that you and your children are buckled into a seat belt every time they are in the car, even if it is for a short trip.