• When I was four I saw truck go off the road and its driver die.
• When I was ten I saw a man just killed by bus.
• Dino's sister was killed by drunk driver.
• Alison's brother was killed by drunk driver.
• Andy's daughter was killed by drunk driver.
• Saw a van driver dying as the windshield sliced his throat when someone pulled out in front.
• Saw a couple dead on MKAD lying outside of their overturned car.
• Alexei just came back from funeral in Kiev where a 21-year old girl was killed by drunk, on the road.
I estimate 90% of all deaths I personally encountered have been road deaths.
Would we pay closer attention if the same number of citizens died each year in our wars?
Yet the Road Safety is a war with its own budget, infrastructure and victims:
• Legislature
• oil companies
• vehicle manufacturers
• road contractors
• law enforcement
• insurance companies
• hospitals
• cemeteries
• law firms and junk yards, ...and
• us - we pay for it, obtain the privilege to use it & end up as its victim.
Forty thousand die each year on well-developed roads in United States.
Thirty five thousand die each year in Russia where the roads are yet to be built: none of modern road safety measures can cause a significant safety increase.
Only elimination of human factor can achieve the needed level of road safety.
If responsibility for transport safety was turned over to insurance companies we would:
• loose the privilege to manually control vehicle within restricted area
• only purchase vehicle usage from insurers, not the vehicle
• benefit from a significant safety increase
Why? Because...
Insurance companies would become operators and control:
• road safety standards
• vehicle manufacturers
• vehicle roadworthiness
• registration
• road traffic
• road construction and automation
Automation by the way of Human Factor elimination can provide the necessary improvement in road safety.
