Global Road Safety Smith System

There's a real need to improve road safety in Ghana, says Eric Nyame-Baafi, a road safety consultant for the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety in Ghana. Don’t miss Eric discussing Ghana’s initiatives to improve railway and road safety, and why public education is badly needed to improve road safety.

Key takeaways:
How Ghana’s government is shifting traffic from road to rail
Why Ghana plans to establish a transportation regulatory body
Initiatives to improve driver skills
Why improving road safety will improve the lives of millions

Every year in Pakistan around 30,000 people die in road accidents. Why, in the world’s fifth largest country, would they have such a high rate of road safety incidents? We spoke with Dr Muhammed Navid Tahir about the lack of road safety lead agency, and the difficulty in changing driver behavior.

Key takeaways:
The Road Safety Act
70% of Pakistan’s road traffic are motorbikes
Introducing the vehicle inspection system
Difficulty of educating the population
Less than 10% of motorcyclists wear helmets

Driving distracted increases the chances of a motor vehicle crash. Statistically, distracted driving is as dangerous as driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol.

In this episode, Paul Ripley, founder of Distraction 999, and Ted Chen, co-founder of LifeSaver Mobile, discuss distracted driving and preventative technology.

Key takeaways:
- The lack of skill in driving
- A lackadaisical attitude towards safety
- The effect of COVID on the quality of driving
- Phones increase the risk of a crash by 23%

Why are vehicle crashes and deaths continuing to rise? Given the pace at which cannabis legalisation and use is growing, we spoke with Dr. Timothy Brown at the University of Iowa College of Engineering, about the impact of cannabis and other drugs on impaired driving.

Key takeaways:
How he got into drug driving research
Antihistamine research in the 90s
The risk of using cannabis and driving
Why it’s tough to say how much cannabis makes you impaired
The challenge of prescription meds and driving

With highway fatalities up by 8% compared to the same period in a non pandemic time, but less miles driven, here to discuss what we can be doing as individuals, as companies, as a society, to combat these alarming trends, is Robert Sumwalt, retired NTSB Chairman.

Key takeaways:
The mission of the NTSB
How human factors influence driving accidents
Teen driver safety initiatives
Why highway fatalities are up 8%
Why driverless cars will improve safety
The human toll of transportation accidents

Despite the prevalence of driver technology and its wealth of data, vehicle crash and fatality rates continue to rise. What can drivers — and the companies that hire them — do to keep our roads safer? Don’t miss visual sports scientist and coach, Dr. Sherylle Calder, aka ‘The Eye Coach,’ and MD of Driver Bureau South Africa, Andrew Crickmay, on Global Road Safety.

Key takeaways:
Becoming a visual analysis coach
How Eye Gym improves visual skills
Why professional drivers need EyeGym
The impact of COVID on drivers