Traffic accident and road safety

06TRAFFIC ACCIDENT & ROAD SAFETY

"Did you hear the news? Lily had a road accident!" Sadly, Lily having a road accident is not a special case; there is an annual loss of approximately 1.3 million individuals because of road traffic crashes. Not only do traffic accidents cost lives but also money. Indeed, Road traffic crashes cost most countries 3% of their gross domestic product. Also, traffic accidents have indirect costs because of the loss of productivity, damage to vehicles and property, reduced quality of life, etc.

But why are road accidents a common thing? There are various causes behind this problem: speeding; distraction; driving under the influence of alcohol and other psychoactive substances; nonuse of motorcycle helmets, seatbelts, and child restraints; unsafe road infrastructure; unsafe vehicles; inadequate post-crash care; and inadequate law enforcement of traffic laws. Risk factors include, low socioeconomic status, being a male, and being at the age of 5 - 29 years old.

Several measures should be taken to reduce road accidents such as law enforcement, making road safety a priority in policy making, expanding the data on the quality of road safety, improving vehicles safety, improving infrastructure, considering road safety features during land-use and transport planning, improving post-crash care for victims of road crashes, raising public awareness, and continuous monitoring and evaluation. A particular advancement in improving vehicle safety is the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Unlike seat belts and airbags that minimize damage and offer protection during a car accident, the ADAS prevents a car accident from occurring in the first place. Most of the ADAS techniques such as lane departure avoidance, lane keeping assistance (LKA), and side warning assistance (SWA) can assist the drivers by alerting them in time, assisting in decision making, and reducing driver workloads.

How does ADAS work? ADAS products use vision-based techniques to detect front lanes and evaluate the driver's performance. The lane detection system should spot inaccurate detections and modify the detection and tracking algorithms and parameters accordingly.

Reducing

road implementing road accidents and

safety measures

requires involvement from multiple

sectors such as transport,

police, health, education, and actions that address the safety of roads, vehicles, and road users. Furthermore, noticeable improvement may take a huge amount of time- up to decadesto occur. Nonetheless, with continuous effort and investment in time, we will reach the day in which a road accident will be an uncommon thing.

"Did you hear the news? Lily had a road accident!"