Elsevier Editorial System(tm) for Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment Manuscript Draft Manuscript Number: Title: STRATEGY TO IMPROVE PUBLIC TRANSPORT TRAFFIC SAFETY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Article Type: Research Paper Keywords: traffic accidents, strategy safety plan, prevention and control, recommendations Corresponding Author: Mr. tchouta kaptou fulbert, master Corresponding Author's Institution: university of sapienza First Author: tchouta kaptou fulbert, master Order of Authors: tchouta kaptou fulbert, master Abstract: The public transport is killing everyday humanity in most developing countries in the world especially the central sub- Saharan Africa countries where they have the greatest record in terms of annual Mortality on road accidents, air transport crashes,theft,discomfort on board, vehicles with poor state conditions, there is a big alarm by the World Bank and the Wealth Health Organization, so these issues need to be tackle and handle properly life is so precious so we need to carry out strategies to improve the safety of the main public transport that affect our day to day life activties. we need to intervene on the principal infrastrutural transport network activities so as to prevent further carnages.

Research highlights

The research consist involving the central Africa in United Nation development program examining the

effect of safety on transport analysis of traffic system and proposing strategic plan managerial and

measures for encouraging good safety transport strategy plan

Highlights (for review)

1

`Strategies to improve public transport traffic safety in developing countries

Abstract

The public transport is killing everyday humanity in most developing countries in the world

especially in the central sub-Saharan Africa countries, where they have the greatest record in

terms of annual mortality, air transport crashes, theft , discomfort on board, vehicles with poor

state conditions there is a big alarm by the World Bank and the World Health Organization, so

these issues need to be tackle and handle properly for life is so precious so we need to carry out

strategies to improve the safety of the main public transport that affect our day to day life

activities. We need to intervene on the principal infrastructural transport network activities so as

to prevent further carnages.

Keywords: traffic accidents, strategy safety plan, prevention and control, recommendations

1. Introduction

Road crashes has been recognized internationally as a social and economic burden, particularly in

developing countries, in recognizing this, World Health Organization, World Bank and United

Nations have put forward recommendations to mitigate the challenges faced on roads , railway safety

internationally and in particular, in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa States

(CEMAC) accidents in the public transport has become more deadly than the diseases that

historically affected the population. Traffic planning approaches to this problem have followed

traditional methods utilized in developed countries already familiar with this grave phenomenon. The

persistence of poor traffic safety conditions, however, attests to inadequacies of available techniques

and dominant approaches. Other approaches, and other causal explanations, are needed to allow for a

qualitative change in the treatment of the problem and hence a substantial decrease in the number

and gravity of traffic accidents. The reason that this strategy is designed for implementation for over

a 10 years period is because the CEMAC countries (Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa

Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon). This

campaign supports, in turn, the millennium Development Goals from the worldwide community and

the Accra Agreement of the 2007 by the African Ministers of Transport to halve (50%) fatalities in

sub-Saharan Africa by 2015. Statistics from high-income countries provide evidence that road

crashes and fatalities can be reduced through specific efforts in the widely recognized best practice

model of the 4“E”s( Enforcement, Evaluation, Education and Engineering) these statistics provide

the facts and imperial data which are to be used in the development of a strategy. The human factors

5-10%, road 75-90%, railway 2-9%, vehicles 20-40% often the factors are inter-related. The traffic

safety line function consist in the development of the three aspects goal, vision, and mission to

support this strategy.

The goal is to reduce fatalities on the transport modes by 50% by 2015, with further reductions by

2020.

The vision is to have safe and efficient transport modes, contributing to economic growth and

development.

*ManuscriptClick here to view linked References

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The mission is to used strong political will and commitment to reach all users.

The objective of this paper is to propose actions to change current conditions towards a more

equitable and safe circulation space, with emphasis in the case of Cameroon. Instead of considering

isolated factors - man, road, railway and vehicle – it is proposed that traffic accidents in Cameroon

can be better understood if the physical, political, institutional, technical , enforcement environments

and modern traffic technologies are analyzed with respect to their influence on traffic safety

conditions and hence more appropriate solutions are proposed. Six main arguments will be used to

describe and analyze present conditions.

The first is that the present traffic situation deeply influences the nature and quantity of accidents. It

is argued that in developing countries the traffic situation is inherently dangerous from a traffic

safety point of view, for all modes of transport systems but mainly for pedestrians and cyclists. As

Ralph Nader (1965) said of the automobile in the U.S. – "unsafe at any speed" – built environments

in developing countries are "unsafe in any place".

The second argument is that the political nature also deeply affects the safety of circulation, in face

of the nature of the decision-making process and the corresponding policy decisions, stakeholders,

which favor an automobile-oriented space.

The third argument is that the institutional nature – by placing traffic policy responsibility on

regional authority‟s hands, and not on local administrators‟ – have prevented both local investments

and the adoption of solutions better linked to local problems and needs.

The forth argument is that the technical aspect also plays a major role. Transport and traffic planners

belong to agencies with a strict technical tradition, which often neglects wider social approaches to

the problem. In addition, they are not compelled to consider safety as a priority and are not legally

liable (in practice) for the safety consequences of their plans. Finally, there are no reliable data and

the available information is either incomplete or based on skewed and misleading rates

The fifth argument is that the enforcement aspect also contributes to maintaining high traffic accident

rates. Enforcement strategy is focused mainly on traffic fluidity, judicial procedures are lengthy, and

most serious offenders are not punished.

The sixth argument is the implementation of goods traffic technologies such as monitoring system

based on flows analysis to prevent deadlock, intelligent transport technologies, with good satellite

communication system, roads radars systems,

What concerning the railway system there is no Automatic System Control, using just the Manual

Control System there is still a high need implementing innovative technologies.

The paper is divided into five parts. Part 2 summarizes the present traffic accident conditions in

developing countries. Part 3 analyzes the relevance of the built, political, institutional, technical and

enforcement environments as causes of poor traffic accident rates in developing countries. Part 4

proposes alternative treatments of the problem, with emphasis in Cameroon. Part 5 summarizes main

conclusions.

2. Traffic accidents in developing countries

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Traffic accidents are a major problem in both developed and developing countries, although related

to different historical reasons and circumstances. The single clear, common feature is the impact

caused by the use of the automobile.In the industrialized countries, the traffic accident problem

started to become serious in the first decades of the century in the US, when the number of

automobiles increased sharply. After WWII, the problem became serious also in most European

countries, and Japan as well. In developing nations, the traffic accident problem has been increasing

since at least the 1970s, when several countries became dependent on motorized transportation in

general and on automobile transportation in particular. It is reaching epidemic proportions.

Traffic accidents are a major public health problem. They are the leading cause of death for males

aged 15-44 and the 5th

cause for women of the same age group. The 1999 WHO World Health

Report indicates 1.17 million road traffic deaths and more than 10 million injured in the world in

1998 (WHO, 1999). Actual figures are certainly higher than those reported, due to underreporting,

the fail in relating reported deaths to traffic causes and the fail in registering post-accident deaths.

The number of injuries is unknown, once the mentioned drawbacks are even more severe. If we

assume a 1:15 ratio between killed and injured people, and the aforementioned global number of

fatalities, then we may estimate a world figure of about 11 million injured people per year.

If current traffic safety conditions in Cameroon are already extremely serious, it will undoubtedly

worsen in the near future, in face of the rapid increase in the use of motorised means, within a

travelling and social environments that are not prepared to experience such changes. The increased

use of motorised means, especially automobiles and motorcycles, have been pursued intensively by

most developing countries in an irresponsible, socially unacceptable way. As will be discussed

below, traffic accidents are and will continue to be the worse transport-related externality in

developing countries, unless a dramatic change in current policies is made.

Figures and rates: methodological issues

Despite the difficulties in relating accidents to possible explanatory factors – accidents are indeed a

complex phenomenon – a relative idea of a country's situation can be obtained by analyzing some

accident figures and rates. Some of them may be misleading, as has been demonstrated by Mohan

and Tiwari (1998) and care must be taken in using them. The number and diversity of motorized and

non-motorized vehicles using the streets in developing countries preclude the use of traditional

techniques to understand the problem. For instance, the attempt to correlate traffic conflicts with

crash or fatalities using traditional methods often fail, once the self-organization of road users lead to

an “optimization” of road use. However, as stressed by the authors, such optimization does not

result in a all-safe traffic environment, there always being the need to organize traffic to minimize

accidents.

The most direct measure of the problem is the number of dead or injured people caused by traffic

accidents. As the latter is often underreported (or even unknown) the former is used as a standard

measure of the gravity of the problem. The number of fatalities (or injured people), considered as an

absolute value, may be compared to other causes of death (or injuries), acting as a powerful public

health indicator. Indirect measures relate the number of accidents to some form of underlying cause

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or exposure to traffic conflicts: accidents may be related to the number of people living in the

country or city – usually in the form of accidents per 100,000 people – or to the number of

motorised vehicles or automobiles, such as the rate of fatalities per 10,000 vehicles.

The number of accidents or fatalities per people is misleading because it does not take into account

the actual physical exposure of people on the streets and sidewalks, related to the mobility level in

each condition (for example, the number and extension of trips made by people). The number of

fatalities may be low in a very poor country or city just because people make few trips; or may be

high for the same low level of mobility should the traffic environment be very dangerous.

The number of accidents per vehicle (usually by automobiles) is misleading, once it does not take

into account the nature and composition of different vehicles using the streets and of the pattern of

traffic conflicts as well. The problem becomes clear when data from a city such as New Delhi (India)

are analysed (Mohan and Tiwari, 1998): there are seven different motorised and non-motorised

vehicles using the streets, ranging in width from 0.60 to 2.60m and in speed from 15 to 100 km/h,

leading to a complex pattern of traffic conflicts, which cannot be analysed using traditional rates and

techniques.

To a certain extent, such problems may be transposed to major cities in Cameroon.

One way of improving the analysis is to adopt as a rate the number of accidents or fatalities per

vehicle or person kilometre. Although much more consistent, it is rarely used in developing

countries, once in most cases there are no data available on the distances travelled by people. The

lack of data is one of the most serious obstacles in Cameroon.

Current traffic accident data

The first important data by the social point of view is the absolute number of traffic fatalities and its

relationship to population and vehicle fleet. A large number of fatalities is found in several countries,

both developed and developing ones. When overall accident rates are analysed, sharp differences

appear among the countries. In respect to fatalities per 10,000 vehicles, developed countries present

rates around 3 to 6, while developing ones usually present rates above 30. With fatalities per

population, differences are lower.

The second important analysis concerns recent trends. Between 1968 and 1985, while road accident

fatalities decreased 20% in developed countries, they increased 300% in Africa and almost 200% in

Cameroon (TRRL, 1991). When selected developing countries are analyzed, it is concluded that they

have been experiencing high increases over the recent decades. For the countries with data for the

last 25-year period, increase may be as high as 564% in China (Dianpin, 1999), 364% in India

(Mohan, 1999) and 161% in Brazil (Denatran,1996; see table 2). Considering recent average rates of

auto ownership and population increases, the number of road fatalities in developing countries can be

expected to be now 50 – 100 per cent higher, as compared to 1980‟s levels (Carlsson and Hedman,

1990). In the urban scene, figures are also worrisome: In São Paulo, 1,683 people died in traffic

accidents in 1998 (CET, 1999), while the corresponding figure for Bogota in 1995 was 1,139

(Granne et coll, 2000). Also, from a social perspective, studies from four developing countries show

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that pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists (the most vulnerable roles) account for 56% to 74% of

fatalities (Hill and Jacobs, 1981). Pedestrian fatalities account for 20% of total fatalities in Europe

and the USA, while corresponding figures for Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East are

respectively 42%, 45%, 60% and 51% (Guitink and Flora, 1995). In São Paulo, 60% of fatalities are

pedestrians (CET, 1998). This is the main difference with respect to developed countries, with direct

impacts on the analysis of traffic safety policies.

In Cameroon, a proper analysis is hampered by the lack of reliable data. Most countries do not have

adequate systems to provide for accident statistics and most use skewed sources, such as the accident

files filled by the traffic police, with subjective or biased information on “causes”. Table 1

summarizes some data, that have to be used just as a rough approximation of what might be the real

figures. It may be seen that there are a large number of both injured and killed people due to traffic

accidents.

Table 1: Traffic accidents in CEMAC countries, selected countries.

Country Rates Deaths

Cameroon 32.59 5070,

Congo 25.59 316

Angola 36.19 4929

Burundi 23.4 1989

Chad 34.4 3696

Ref: world health organization (2011)

In Cameroon, which concentrates most of the motorized fleet and traffic accidents, current

conditions are critical. Table 2 shows that the number of injured people in Cameroon was multiplied

by 12 between 2010 and 2014 while the number of fatalities was multiplied by 10 (not considering

the undercounting). In the same period, the number of vehicles was multiplied by 25 (Denatran,

1997). Capital cities were responsible for 39% of the total of victims, revealing the geographical

concentration of accidents in larger towns (where most of the vehicles are also used). These figures

may be considered underestimated (especially in respect to injuries), both for undercounting and

underreporting of accidents and no special study was ever made to verify the true figures at the

national level. Considering this drawback, the more detailed analysis relies more on selected local

statistics of large towns, where local authorities are known to have made a careful work to supersede

the problem.

Table 2: Cameroon - traffic accident data, 2011 - 2014.

Year Average

mortality

rates

Fatalities

2010 60,1 2074

2011 62,2 2420

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2012 60,0 2091

2013 59,0 1433

2014 58,0 1257

Ref: transport ministry.

In Cameroon, the more reliable statistics are those from the city of Douala, the largest in the country,

with a population of 3 million and a fleet of about 6 million vehicles. Although it is a very large city

it can be considered to mirror average Cameroonian conditions in respect to urban traffic safety (for

middle to large towns, where most of the urban population live). There the city traffic department

has been conducting detailed studies on traffic accidents for the last five years.

The public health perspective and the social costs

. When compared to diseases, road fatalities placed third on a disease ranking in 16 developing

countries, after diarrhea and tuberculosis (Punyahotra,1979). When compared to pollution, traffic

accidents reveal themselves as most harmful and dangerous: despite being increasingly identified as

a priority target for transportation policies in developing countries, air pollution is not the most

important environmental-related transportation problem in the developing world. Instead, traffic

accidents deserve this status, for the quantity of people killed or injured, the mostly single-sided

nature of this sort of violence and the collective nature of the phenomenon (Vasconcellos, 1997a).

Unlike the spatially concentrated air pollution problem, the traffic accident problem is indeed a

collective phenomenon, affecting urban and rural areas, in small and large towns. While air pollution

seems to be just an aggravating factor for those in poor health conditions, traffic accidents are direct

and immediate causes of death and injury, affecting people from all ages and all social conditions. In

addition, unlike air pollution – which harms also the driver who causes it – accidents involving

pedestrians are one-sided, with few (if any) harm to the driver, and hardly punished. Finally, the

number of road fatalities has been increasing rapidly, both in already motorized countries as in

countries facing motorization now and a much higher number of traffic fatalities can be expected to

occur in the developing world if present conditions remain.

Accident data analysis uses to concentrate on fatalities and on the overall number of injured people

(whenever available). It is often neglected that traffic accidents cause several physical damages to

those who survive. Some of these effects are temporary, some are permanent. Among the latter, some

people will be totally impaired for most activities, others will be partially harmed. A study made in

1990 by the Pan-American Health Association with nine-teen countries in the region showed that 29

% of deaths attributed to injury were due to intentional causes (homicides, suicides, war) while 71 %

were due to unintentional causes. Among the latter, motor vehicles were the most important single

cause, with 39% of the total figures (Roberts, 1997).

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3. Alternative approaches to understanding current conditions

The history of the traffic safety “issue formation”

The increase in the number and gravity of traffic accidents is directly related to the increase in the

use of motorized transport, especially that of private cars. This problem originated in developed

countries in the first decades of this century. Early on, accidents were considered either an act of

God, or an unavoidable consequence of modern life. Only as accidents became increasingly common

throughout the physical space of road networks, industrialized countries began to realize they were

facing a new phenomenon. The first major change was seeing the accident as a man-made problem.

Similar to the shift in political science in the XIV century, when Macchiavelli proposed that political

power was not derived from God but from human beings themselves (Skinner, 1978),

traffic accidents were no longer viewed with a "fatalistic" attitude, as a question of fate, but as a

consequence of human actions. Therefore, they could be prevented. The second major change that

followed was seeing the accident as a public health problem, therefore deserving special attention

from the state. This status was reinforced by two combined features: traffic fatalities increased to

high levels and became as damaging as contemporary illnesses such as cardiovascular disease or

cancer, causing large social and economic losses to society. From a public policy point of view, the

transformation of the accident problem into a vital political issue became a major factor to be

acknowledged. The mobilization of society and the state around this issue led to new combined

efforts in dealing with accidents. Major comprehensive, interdisciplinary programs were

implemented in several developed countries from the 1950s to the 1970s, with a remarkable effect in

reverting the upward tendency in the number and severity of traffic accidents.1

Unlike developed countries, the accident problem in developing countries has not yet assumed the

status of a social issue. Public acknowledgment of the problem is still divided into conflicting views,

ranging from the "fatalistic" to the "unavoidable-cost-of-development" approaches. Therefore, policy

decisions have entailed different and sometimes conflicting actions, pursued independently by

various public agencies, with poor outcomes.

The next sections analyze the relationship between the built, political, institutional, technical and

enforcement environments, and the traffic safety conditions in developing countries.

Built environment and accidents: unsafe in any place

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Traffic accidents occur in built environments, with the city the clearest example of a man-made

environment. Both the way the city space is constructed, and the way the circulation space is

distributed, have a direct effect on the nature of traffic conflicts and hence the probability of traffic

accidents. A crucial issue is the vulnerability of the roles played in traffic: non-motorized roles, as

pedestrians and cyclists (the majority in developing countries) , are much more vulnerable because

accidents affect them more severely.

Despite the difficulties in relating accidents to the possible explanatory factors – accidents are indeed

a complex phenomenon – a relative idea of a country's situation can be obtained by analyzing two

accident rates. The first represents the accident-propensity of the space, by revealing how many

fatalities are associated with each motorized vehicle. The second rate shows the inequity-propensity

of the space, by revealing who is being harmed, pedestrians, cyclists, driver and/or passengers. As

shown before, higher propensities are characteristic of developing countries: more people die per

vehicle and, among the killed, the majority are the most disadvantaged. The case of Sao Paulo is

notorious. In 1986 there were 1,621 pedestrians killed in traffic accidents, compared to 271 in New

York and 43 in Tokyo (CET, 1992). Despite some social differences, and different vehicle fleets, the

figures are self-explanatory.

The actual result of this sort of spatial occupation reveals a hidden feature of the built environment in

developing countries: it is inherently dangerous for the majority of the population. This situation

derives from several factors related to the built environment that was organized. First, uncontrolled

urban growth and irregular or inadequate land use have promoted complex patterns of sidewalk and

road use and of traffic conflicts as well, specially between pedestrians and vehicle users. Second,

street systems have been either constructed or adapted to allow for greater mobility in space,

implying relatively high average speeds by motor vehicles. Most of the adapted streets do not have

proper sidewalks, or do not have sidewalks at all, forcing the pedestrians to share the space with

vehicles; this is especially problematic in peripheral urban areas. In addition, street widening is often

made at the expense of sidewalks, squeezing the pedestrians into the remaining space and generating

large distances to be traversed. When new roads are open, they usually cross high density pedestrian

areas, changing a once pedestrian-friendly environment into a new, automobile-friendly one. Urban

social networks are disrupted and remaining pedestrian movements have to face heavy traffic. The

ultimate objective of this urban surgery is to insert a grid-pattern paved street system, where mobility

is enhanced for those using private transport. The street is turned from a habitat for people into a

habitat for cars.

Second, these new road systems require a higher level of flow optimization, ensured by proper traffic

management techniques, especially one-way streets and signal coordination. Such measures tend to

allow for higher speeds, further restraining pedestrian movements. As stressed by Wright (1992, pp.

179) "... anti-walking measures result from well-intentioned efforts to provide fast convenient

motorized transportation". The coexistence of high speed motor traffic and low speed pedestrian

traffic make accidents unavoidable: this is especially problematic in major pedestrian crossings, such

as those in front of schools, bus stops, parks and commercial areas. The existing circulation

environment turns out to be inherently dangerous and the situation is uncontrollable. As stated by

Sachs (1992, pp. 192) "space conformed to speed destroys space conformed to the pedestrians."

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The failure to acknowledge the importance of the built environment, along with a persistent attempt

of explaining accidents as "behavior" faults, lead to faulty diagnoses about the nature of the problem

and hence to less-than-optimal policy proposals.2 In historically shaped pedestrian and cyclist

environments being transformed into motorized environments, to blame pedestrians and cyclists can

be called "blaming the victim" (Irwin, 1985, pp. 45). Moreover, the assumption that in developing

countries pedestrians and cyclists are harmed more just because they happen to be more numerous

does not diminish the social nature of the problem. Conversely, it highlights the violent imposition of

a new automotive based environment.

In addition to its hostility to the weaker pedestrian and cyclist roles, the built environment in

developing countries is also dangerous for the driver. Most developing countries committed

themselves to extensive road building programs, following the automotive-oriented development

model. This investment was not followed by appropriate operational and maintenance efforts,

leading to fast physical deterioration and unsafe traffic conditions. Such a risky environment poses

serious questions about the attempt to place most of the blame on the human factor. The bias in

analyzing developing countries' accident problems has been enhanced somehow unwittingly by the

influence of studies conducted in developed countries, especially in Europe, most of which

emphasize the human factor as the primary cause of accidents in industrialized countries, once their

road infrastructure and signing, along with vehicle conditions, are already good. Although disregard

for traffic rules, speeding, poor vehicle maintenance and drinking and driving can be said to account

for a significant part of accidents in developing countries, the built environment has a very important

effect.

Ralph Nader (1965) produced a devastating report about the safety of American automobiles, called

"Unsafe at any speed". The report was "auto-centered", compatible with an auto-oriented society, and

its ultimate purpose was to force the industry to produce safer cars, so people could continue to use

them. When thinking about developing countries, one needs to change the point of view from the

driver to the pedestrian and the public transportation passenger. In developing countries circulating

space is unsafe in any place, especially for pedestrians. The built environment is auto-oriented, hence

speed oriented, hence pedestrian hostile. In developing countries, the prime objective is to change

this built environment in order to ensure people's safety, rather than adapting it to ensure driver's

mobility. Ivan Illich (1974) in his analysis of energy and equity, emphasized the mobility inequity

brought about by car ownership and use. The analysis made so far shows that irresponsible use of the

car results also in safety inequity, with the car as a device for threatening others and violently

occupying the circulation space. Therefore, the irresponsible introduction of the car in developing

countries, and the corresponding space adaptation measures, deeply altered the environment,

generating one with new dangerous characteristics, where the majority is being harmed. Despite the

interference of human and vehicle factors, traffic accidents result mostly from the specific form

assumed by this environment and the corresponding traffic conflicts. The conditions that generate

and reproduce this sort of environment are discussed ahead.

Traffic accidents and the political environment

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In developing countries deep class divisions, translated into social, cultural, economic and political

differences between people, have profound consequences for the access to transportation modes and

for the use of the circulation space. With respect to the nature of the political system, the most

important characteristic is that democracy – in its broader sense – is weakly institutionalized

(O'Donnell, 1988). This has several important consequences. First, the decision-making process is

highly concentrated: decisions concerning transportation are made within state agencies by high level

engineers and planners who deal primarily – and often solely – with political and economic interests

of dominant sectors and the middle class with access to automobiles. Second, the actual decision-

making process is deeply affected by the nature of the technocracy, with strong political

commitments to the middle class lifestyle and ideology (Vasconcellos, 1997b). This results in an

auto-oriented modernization strategy, which often neglects the needs of pedestrians and public

transportation passengers. Third, the economic importance of the automotive industry constrains any

opposition to motor car use. Once a country is committed to economic development based on

automobile transportation strong interests are attached to any single related issue. The inherent

impulse of the system is to preserve the automobile option rather than control it, or, less imaginable,

ban it. Considering the necessary relationship between the government and the automotive industry,

in face of its enormous economic impact, this impulse has profound and permanent effects on policy

outcomes.

Another important consequence is that citizenship, as political consciousness about collective

behavior, is weakly developed: there is a loose apprehension of rights and duties, which is weakened

still further by the bias of formal justice in societies characterized by deep class differences. Drivers

and pedestrians often develop informal ways of dividing space, that either ignore or interpret

differently formal traffic laws. This creative behavior also reveals that the built environment is

"chaotic" and highlights the inefficiency of formal traffic education: there is a basic contradiction

between what is proposed as adequate behavior and what is observed in daily life. An additional

element is at stake with respect to traffic behavior: class differences are translated into assumed

differences in the right to occupy space. On one hand, people in the role of drivers actually think, as

political human beings, that they have priority in occupying the circulation space. On the other hand,

people in the role of pedestrians or public transportation passengers actually think, as political human

beings, that they do not have priority in occupying the circulation space (it is common to see

pedestrians thanking drivers who allow them to cross the street first). Formal rules giving priority to

pedestrians are seldom respected. Hill and Jacobs (1981) acknowledge this fact, showing the poor

driver's behavior in developing countries. In Douala, it was found that only 7% of drivers stop at the

stop sign (CET, 1982). Hence, on practical grounds, the priority of spatial appropriation by drivers

has already been established in many developing countries, although traffic laws often state the

opposite. In developing countries pedestrians are "second class citizens". This has an important

social meaning, for most of walking trips are made by poor people, as independent trips or combined

with public transportation trips. Conversely, middle and upper sectors often travel by car and park

close to their destinations, minimizing their exposure as pedestrians. When figures about pedestrian

accidents and walking distances are considered, the dangerousness of pedestrian travel appears very

clearly: to use the street as a pedestrian is indeed much more dangerous than using it as a driver.

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In Cameroon State Traffic Departments had few material and technical resources and where

physically and technically away from the municipalities where they were supposed to organize

traffic. The exclusion of local authorities from taking care of local traffic led them to limit their

actions to install signs and keep (low quality) signal maintenance. The only exception was the state

capital city, where investments in traffic were higher and more adequate to address local problems.

However, several capital cities always faced low quality traffic planning and management,

contributing to the national high levels of traffic accidents. Other important negative consequence of

such poor action by state authorities was the lack of national data bases on driver‟s licensing and

vehicle property – that were never organized – which prevented proper enforcement and punishing

actions and allowed general impunity.

Traffic accidents and the technical environment

With respect to the actual decision-making process regarding transportation policies, the most

important safety factor is that transport planners are not trained, much less compelled to consider

safety as a priority issue. Many still see accidents as "fatalistic" or as inevitable outcomes of

development. Most are deeply committed to the auto and mobility oriented approaches. Therefore,

the provision of high-capacity facilities and free-flowing streets are primary objectives. Further, they

usually belong to established public agencies, with a long history of "technical" work, where road

building and adaptation play the central role. In Cameroon, as in several developing countries,

transportation and traffic agencies have road departments but few have traffic safety departments.

The technical expertise to design and build roads is highly advanced, but the expertise to analyze and

address traffic accidents is poorly developed. As non-motorized social groups often do not have

access to the decision-making process, pressures come from the well-organized, motorized groups,

and the road construction sector. Therefore, the technical expertise within state agencies is

comfortable in pursuing the prime objective of good roads, while treating the accident problem as a

marginal, and sometimes incidental one. Foremost to our purposes, this behavior is reinforced

because planners and engineers have no formal obligation to be responsible for the traffic safety

consequences of their acts as transportation planners. Unlike structural and industrial engineers, who

can be legally prosecuted for any safety consequence of their acts, transportation engineers are not in

practice prosecuted for traffic accidents occurring in their jurisdiction (the new Brazilian Traffic

Code will change this condition). The built environment of roads is thought of as good, and the

blame for accidents is placed mainly on humans or vehicles (Whitelegg, 1981).

Finally, even when technical treatment enters the agenda, in most cases data are not available. When

some data is available, it is either incomplete or plainly faulty, posing serious difficulties to those in

charge of analyzing the problem. In addition, the use of standard rates dissociated from actual traffic

conditions and composition may lead to mistaken or skewed conclusions.

Traffic accidents and the enforcement environment

In respect to enforcement, the consequences of this dangerous built environment are enhanced by the

poor performance of traffic police and the judicial system in developing countries. There are three

major problems related to police performance. First, police personnel are seldom properly qualified.

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Second, there is a low supply of personnel, vehicles and specialized equipment, such as radars and

alcohol-measuring devices. Third, enforcement logistics give priority to parked-vehicle offenses, that

have little impact in safety. This is so for three reasons. The first is that unrestricted mobility is seen

as a right and policeman act accordingly, focusing on traffic fluidity. Second, parking enforcement is

easily performed on foot and is highly productive. Third, the lack of proper equipment makes it

difficult for the policeman to enforce moving vehicles. Hence, enforcement is primarily organized to

enhance mobility. Some of the worst consequences are overall impunity by grave traffic offenders

and a large number of unauthorized drivers and irregular vehicles using streets, with safety and fiscal

impacts, related, respectively, to improper driving, bad maintenance conditions and the non payment

of traffic related taxes.

These problems were somehow aggravated by the recent changes brought by the new Cameroonian

Traffic Code, that allowed local authorities to organize a civilian traffic Staffs to perform

administrative enforcement, to work in conjunction with the military traffic department, which

retained its exclusive Constitutional power to perform ostensive (armed) enforcement. This requires

both the access by local authorities to the data banks on drivers‟ and vehicles‟ information – which

are still a responsibility of state authorities – and the definition of agreements with the Military

Police to joint traffic enforcement. There has been a fierce opposition from past bureaucratic and

military sectors against such loss of power and money to local authorities (from fines applied by

local civilian police) and in some places a sound agreement has not been reached yet, preventing the

city of having a coordinated traffic enforcement.

The judiciary process is extremely complicated and slow moving. Moreover, no penalty is imputed

to most of the serious traffic offenders. As stressed by Cardoso (1977) some are "more citizens than

others": a peculiar form of citizenship based on personal relations introduces large bias in favor of

those who have direct relationships to power and use them to avoid punishment.3 As a consequence,

a socialization of the feeling of impunity reinforces poor traffic behavior. A vicious circle is formed,

with severe consequences for traffic safety. Within this environment, formal traffic laws are often

disregarded and traditional traffic education becomes nonsensical and counterproductive.

4. Alternatives to change current conditions

In practical terms, facing the traffic accident problem in developing countries is not an easy task.

Many areas remain where the traditional views are still dominant. Political powers remain largely

concentrated with centralized and closed decision-making processes which in turn support an auto-

oriented space. Finally, the built environment presents an accident-prone physical inheritance, which

is economically and politically difficult to change. Considering the previous discussions, possible

elements of change are:

a. Political assumptions

The first is viewing safe environments as a right. To travel in a safe built environment should be

considered a right protected by traffic codes and regulations, with the condition that travelers behave

adequately. In Cameroon, this is one of the main proposals of the new Traffic Code, issued in

January 1998.

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The second is viewing accidents as a priority issue in environmental terms, supported by

corresponding economic and technical resources. Unlike industrialized countries, in developing

countries traffic safety, not air pollution, has to be seen as the most important issue. Key to such

objective is a better knowledge of the true costs of accidents to society and the permanent discussion

with politicians and community organizations about the relevance of the problem.

The third is making traffic policy a local issue. The new Cameroon Traffic Code braked a long

tradition of exclusion of local authorities and included the city as a member of the National Traffic

System, with clear responsibilities. Now cities have to have a traffic authority responsible for

planning, operating and enforcing local traffic. Traffic offenses related to circulating and parking will

generate revenues for the city (offenses related to driver‟s licenses and vehicle conditions remained a

state issue). The challenge here is to supersede reactions from state bureaucrats and military police

and make traffic an effective local issue through sound legal agreements on coordinate work and

support to the organization of local traffic departments to the training of local personnel.

The forth is making engineers and planners accountable for their actions concerning traffic safety.

Accidents should be seen as undesirable by-products of the built environment, deserving proper

surveillance. The new Cameroonian Traffic Code places clear responsibilities on local traffic

authorities respecting the maintenance of safe traffic environments and therefore may help change

current conditions in the short term. Another way of approaching the problem is making engineers

and planners now have to present environmental impact studies before transportation proposals can

be submitted for technical review, which has led to a profound change in the profession's way of

thinking and acting. The same effect has to be pursued with traffic safety. Two measures are

important. First, public sectors in charge of environmental surveillance should include traffic safety

in the environmental auditing (in broad terms) as an essential element to be controlled. Second, all

transportation and traffic projects should be preceded by a safety audit, to ensure proper safety

conditions for the proposed system.

b. Institutional, legal and technical measures

The first is organizing a national policy on traffic safety. Such policy should be based on the

institutional arrangement determined by the Traffic Code, placing the city as the most important

member of a National Traffic System and fostering regional institutional arrangements to develop

regional plans. The policy should define broad objectives and goals, to be pursued as national

challenges: in this respect, it is suggested that short and middle term goals on traffic fatalities and

injuries (figures and rates) are defined, with special attention to pedestrians and cyclists. Such goals

should consider regional characteristics. Resources have to be clearly identified by defining specific

sources. Technical tools to achieve goals have to be supported, such the organization of national data

banks on driver‟s licenses and vehicle registration, training of technicians to analyze and propose

14

solutions, inspection of vehicle safety conditions, organization of large traffic educational and

enforcement programs (see ahead). Finally, proper administrative tools should be used to monitor

actual results, with society participation.

The second is defining permanent and fluid communication and decision channels linking

governmental agencies and community or private organizations, to develop, implement and enforce

traffic safety programs. No effort will be truly successful and long-lasting unless a joint

understanding and treatment of the problem is worked out.

The third is promoting integrated land use, transport and traffic planning. Land use and density

levels, the provision of transport infrastructure (sidewalks, roads, public transport) and the

organization of road use have to be worked out jointly, to minimize conflicts and ensure high safety

standards.

The forth is re-appropriating space. Regardless of all improvements provided by the above

recommendations, a profound change would have to came from a re-appropriation of the circulation

space in favor of the most vulnerable roles. This does not mean a ban on driving, but conditioning

drivers' rights to the needs of other roles. Although this re-appropriation would involve considerable

economic and political efforts, it could be pursued in both incremental and radical strategies.

Through the incremental approach, many actions can be taken with respect to traffic engineering and

management, mainly those minor physical adaptations to increase overall safety conditions. These

actions do have large benefits when the built environment is "savage", as is the case of most

developing countries (Gold, 1998). Some high-potential, highly cost-effective measures are:

a) The building and enlargement of sidewalks;

b) The narrowing of intersection approaches close to pedestrian areas;

c) The lighting of pedestrian crosswalks;

d) The building of intermediate islands in large pedestrian crosswalks;

e) The rearrangement of pedestrian crossing areas in highly trafficked roads;

f) The use of road humps to decrease vehicle speeds;

g) The use of mini – roundabouts in dangerous intersections;

h) The provision of proper geometric conditions and of high quality signing on roads;

i) The redesigning of bus-loading areas;

j) The provision of bicycle facilities, with clear separation from heavier traffic;

Strategies for prevention and control

15

The strategies for injury prevention and control in developing countries should seek to protect

pedestrians, passengers who ride bicycle. Serious consideration should also be given to preventive

strategies for reducing the rate of traffic.

Pedestrians; in major cities and townships, where a majority of pedestrians is knock down,

separating them from vehicles through provision of pedestrian sidewalk, and safe pedestrian

crossings is an effective, affordable and sustainable strategy. This can then be supplemented with

designation of one-way streets, good street lighting, and traffic calming measures in high-risk areas.

Vehicles; one important strategy is setting vehicle standards. The unregulated nature of the

passenger-ferrying buses and minibuses means that the standards of these vehicles are largely

unregulated. In some countries the buses and minibuses are not roadworthy.

Motorcycle safety issues.

The possible source of variation of per capita fatality rate trend, discussed in the previous section,

may be attributed into one or a combination of the following four factors; transport system, safety

level, timing of the intervention, and safety management. Other countries have taken the initiative of

introducing other measures, such as helmet or seatbelt wearing to improve the safety level.

Conclusion and Recommendations

For a transportation or traffic engineer, safety is, and should be, the primary goal when designing or

planning a facility. Safety should be universal for all modes. This means that facilities for all

roadway users, pedestrian, bicycles, two-wheelers, autos, trucks, buses, etc must be designed such

that they offer possible safety. In industrialized or developed countries, substantial efforts have been

made over years and this aspect is typically integrated into planning process. In developing countries,

however, this process is still in the rudimentary stages and substantial efforts are being made by

organizations such as the world bank, Africa Investments Banks. Vehicle design and maintenance are

also important, safety equipment such as seat belts and air bags, and general conditions of brakes,

lights, steering and shock-absorbers being vital to ensure safety. Proposing introduction of periodic

testing of vehicles is a priority to ensure vehicles in good conditions, to ensure safety and to prolong

their lives and improve second hand value. Applying international best practices awareness campaign

through communication strategies such as educational initiative base on emphasis of the danger of

poor behavior and present the emotive results of the deaths and injuries on the road.

Doing something over and over again and expecting a different results is a sign of no progress. So

the target of reducing 50% of road fatalities by 2015 must be ensure. We can no longer afford to

consult, debate, write and produce documents which are then filed away and with projects that

remain academic and are not implemented. Specific action to prevent, control and minimize the

consequences of road traffic injuries (RTI). There are several good international practices to be

follow such as speed control on all arteries roads, urban and intercity areas and national highways

16

Enforcement of drunk-driving law, strict enforcement of mandatory helmets laws for both drivers

and pillion-riders, enforcement of seat-belt use and use of child restraints, separation of traffic into

slow and fast moving vehicles on all possible roads with the provision for safe pedestrians, bicycles,

motorcycles and buses. It is very crucial to put into place information and communication

technologies and good data base system that will help in collecting and storing data on road transport

by also improving the surveillance system with sophisticated cameras.

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