Conliffe Wilmot-Simpson
January 1, 2024
INTRODUCTION
On December 16, 2023, there was fatal accident on the Mandela Highway. Prior to daylight, a vehicle travelling in the direction of Spanish Town crashed into the rear of a parked trailer loaded with cement. The trailer was parked in a no stopping/no parking zone on the hard shoulder in Front of the Fesco petrol station. This area, with the full complicity of PSTEB, has become an approved parking zone for many tractor trailers and other large trucks. They make the area hazardous at nights, by impeding traffic flow and completely obscuring the use of the hard shoulder for its intended uses such an emergency stopping area for disabled vehicles, an emergency lane and as an optional traffic lane if so directed by the police.
I do not have the details of the incident and all the circumstances that surround the event and therefore and cannot proclaim any judgements. The facts seem to be:
1. A Truck was parked in an area where they should not have been unless they were displaying the appropriate Emergency Warning Signs as required by the Road Traffic Act.
2. A vehicle collided into the rear of the truck
3. A passenger in the vehicle died.
Not surprising there were two very quick official responses. Head of the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB) of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Assistant Commissioner of Police Gary McKenzie said investigations are ongoing to see whether the fatal accident was a result of dangerous driving (Jamaica Observer). Vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council, NRSC, Dr. Lucien Jones, says Saturday’s fatal accident on Mandela Highway was completely preventable. He says it should remind persons to exercise due care when using the nation’s roadways (nationwideradiojm). Both statements reflect the myopic “single cause” view that we have had of accident causation for a very long time. There was no reference to an unsafely parked truck in the dark, on a section of an 80 Km/h highway! Both proponents of the “Safe System” (Safe people, Safe roads, Safe Vehicles, Safe speeds and Post-crash care), chose the easy way out and completely ignored the big picture which has multiple causations. So we will charge the driver, wash our hands and it will be business as usual. And we will also charge the next fool who crashes into a parked truck at night. If only drivers were careful, they would not crash into parked vehicles!
THE HAZARD OF THE UNSAFELY PARKED TRUCK
A truck parked on the side of a roadway presents a hazard. This is especially true at nights if the truck is a tractor trailer (as is often the case) is parked without the appropriate Emergency Warning Signs in case it has broken down. The reflectors may be missing or covered with dirt. Many trailers do not have working rear lights. In daylight hours, these may be easily avoided, but in the hours of darkness, they present a major peril for other motorists. The glare of an oncoming headlamp could easily reduce the ability of the best of drivers to see accurately to the limit of his headlamps and even if he reduces his speed, there is the possibility of impact with the unlit truck.
Most of the collisions into parked vehicles take place at nights. This is understandable.
It is very easy to underestimate the difficulty of seeing poorly illuminated objects at nights.
Hazards may also be obvious during daylight hours.
I wish to emphasize the distinction for the men of authority mentioned above, between Illegal and Unsafe. The two trucks in the photos above are parked off the carriageway, so technically they are legally parked. However, given their location and the likelihood of someone running into them, they are unsafely parked. Being legally parked, they may not attract a traffic ticket, however, if the driver is negligent by parking the unit unsafely, they may be liable for any injuries caused by their negligence.
THE EFFECTS OF THE HAZARD OF THE UNSAFELY PARKED TRUCK
Many persons have been killed! Please see the composite headlines below. Please note that I am not making judgements as to guilt or liability in these cases. I am merely saying that these are instances, mainly at nights, where persons died as a result of vehicles crashing into parked trucks.
IS THIS HAZARD UNIQUELY JAMAICAN?
This would seem to be a reasonable question to ask and unfortunately the answer is no. Hundreds of persons died every year under similar circumstances. Please see composites below.
The data below is from India, where over 5,000 persons were killed in accident involving crashing into parked vehicles in 2019.
The problem is not restricted to the “undeveloped” countries as the incident of a Greyhound bus crashing into parked trailers in Illinois indicates.
TOWARDS A SOLUTION
The current state is untenable. More persons will continue to die by crashing into parked vehicles at nights. In my humble opinion, there are two approaches that must work hand in hand for an efficient change in behavior and diminution of the problem. These are (A) Regulatory Imperatives to improve the system and (B) Other legal remedies.
A. Regulatory Imperatives.
Both the Traffic Police (PSTEB) and the National Road Safety Council have important roles to play. I am suggesting focus by them on these 5 items.
1. Thinking through the Issues
The police and Council seem to be stuck with using the Traffic Ticket as the main tool to drive behavior change and to get improved safety outcomes. This thinking is flawed and a close reading of the Safe Systems literature will make this clear. We cannot bastardize the Safe System and expect it to work properly. It has many useful guides to improving traffic safety which we should adopt. We need to act on all of its components. 1 million traffic tickets a year is good for revenue but not necessarily so for road safety.
2. Drafting and implementing the appropriate Regulations
The Road Traffic Act and its regulations need constant review. In the case of parking, there is no comprehensive guidance for various areas such as cities and towns, rural areas and residential areas. We have new types of highways and the appropriate regulations should be in place by the time these new roads are completed. In many respects, motorists have taken the initiative and have started behaving in ways which are convenient but not necessarily safe.
This is a section (262) of the current Road Traffic Act Regulations
Section 262
262. –(1) For the purposes of this regulation a “motor vehicle” does not include –
(a) an ambulance or motor car;
(b) a motor cycle; or
(c) a motor truck not exceeding 5,000 kilogrammes.
(2) Where a motor vehicle, is for any reason, stationary on a roadway or on the shoulder of a road, the driver of that motor vehicle shall display or cause to be displayed at least two emergency warning signs in the manner specified in paragraph (4).
(4) The emergency warning signs referred to in paragraph (2) shall be
displayed in the following manner –
(a) the signs shall be placed not less than 45 metres from the motor vehicle along the roadway, on the side of the roadway closest to the motor vehicle in both directions from which any traffic will approach
the motor vehicle;
(b) the signs shall be placed as far from the edge of the roadway as the transverse centre of the motor vehicle is from the edge of the roadway; and
(c) the reflective side of each sign shall face in the direction from which traffic normally approaches.
(5) The provisions of paragraph (2) shall not apply where a motor vehicle is stationary –
(a) in a place where a road traffic sign authorizes the loading or unloading of a vehicle;
(b) in compliance with any direction conveyed by a road traffic sign or given by a constable or traffic warden;
(c) on account of other traffic on the road and while the driver occupies the driving seat of such vehicle; or
(d) in the course of events during the carrying out of a Government or municipal function.
(6) A person who fails to display an emergency warning sign, in accordance with this regulation, commits an offence and is liable, on summary conviction, to the penalty in Part A of the Fifth Schedule.
3. Educating the public
This is a critical element of getting buy-in for changes in the traffic management system. The majority of Jamaicans will be willing to engage in discussions and will support changes which will make road use safer. The public were very attentive when the provisions of the New Road Traffic Act were being announced and will pay attention if they will be seriously affected for better or for worse.
4. Enforcement
This is self-explanatory. Although there is the technology that can dramatically reduce the number of boots on the ground required to monitor traffic, patrols must be stepped up. There are sections of the roadway in Kingston where PSTEB has turned over traffic management to violators. A drive on Molynes Road or Red Hill Road at 7:30 on a weekday morning, will reveal that the Taxis and Coaster buses are the real authority on the roadways. Enforcement will also reduce the related issues of speeding, alcohol abuse, defective vehicles and other contributory factors. Clamping of trucks illegally parked on the highway would be a good start.
5. Providing safe parking areas for trucks
The nuisance caused by trucks parked in residential areas (parking on sidewalks, road damage, noise, obstructing traffic) must be remedied. This must be the only country where the driver of a petrol tanker is allowed to use it as his private vehicle to go home at nights and to subject his entire community to the fire risk that the truck poses. Two suggestions are:
1. In the design of residential communities, provision can be made for an area adjacent to the scheme and at an appropriate distance from houses, to be used as a semi commercial area for activities such as truck parking and repairs
2. Provision has to be made for laybys at intervals along major highways, where trucks or other vehicle may be safely parked away from the hard shoulder.
B. Other Legal Redress
For many Jamaicans, the end result of an accident may be the police issuing a ticket and the driver being convicted and paying a fine. However, there is redress in the Civil Court, regardless of whether or not action was taken under the Road Traffic Act. A truck operator who negligently either wholly by himself or in a contributory way causes death or injury to another, is liable to make redress to the affected party. There is case law to support this position. Two examples are:
From India, where a truck was parked without any warning devices:
From Australia, where a truck was parked with all of the required warning devices.
In both cases liability was placed at the feet of the truck driver and by extension the owner.
If there was any fear of a penalty, this trailer would not have been left overnight in a poorly lit area, on major road in May Pen. The behaviour may start to change when drivers and owners start paying for the consequences of their carelessness, by having to pay large sums as settlements of lawsuits brought against them for negligence and for causing death or injury to other road users.
Let us work together for a safer road traffic year in 2024.
REFERENCES
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20190521/taxi-operator-killed-north-south-highway-crash
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