The fatal Aloha Bus Co crash on Saturday last week left six people dead and 11 injured.
Initial analysis of the cause of death was that the passengers were thrown from the coach, hitting the road surface at high velocity. None of those killed had been wearing seat belts.
Three major things can be drawn from this disaster.
First is the need to enforce the wearing of seat belts.
Statistics show that 65 percent of fatalities in crashes on freeways involve a failure to use seat belts.
After a fatal accident in February in which a tour bus overturned and fell down an embankment, the issue of whether transport companies should enforce the wearing of seat belts once more came to the fore.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications called a meeting with industry operators, at which a consensus was reached to amend the Transportation Management Regulations (汽車運輸業管理規則) to require passengers aged four or older on buses or coaches on national freeways or highways to wear seat belts.
At the same time, amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) were proposed to increase fines for failure to comply with seatbelt rules to between NT$3,000 and NT$6,000.
Unfortunately, the government has been preoccupied during the intervening months trying to pass the budget for its Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program and has not included the road safety amendments in its list of legislative priorities.
Every seat in buses and coaches is fitted with a seat belt. However, the rules only stipulate that passengers sitting next to the driver, in the front row, behind emergency exit doors, as well as the middle seats in the back row, should belt up, and even then this is really only recommended practice and not actually enforced in any way.
My own observations from traveling on these buses tells me that less than half of passengers use their seat belts.
The ministry should see to it that the amendments are passed.
In the interim, coach and tour bus operators should promote the policy themselves, with drivers conducting a quick inspection of the bus prior to setting off, at which time they would ask passengers to fasten their seat belts.
Police officers could board buses at interchanges and make sure the law is being followed, writing tickets to passengers who fail to wear their seat belts.
This would hopefully encourage people, over time, to cultivate the habit of wearing seat belts.
The second thing would be to require passenger transport companies to install collision avoidance warning systems on their vehicles.
The ministry already requires that all new Class A large passenger vehicles, as of 2019, and all new vehicles of the old type, from 2021, must be fitted with brake-assist systems and lane-departure warning systems (LDWS).
In addition, the Directorate-General of Highways is subsidizing the installation of collision-avoidance warning systems and LDWS on vehicles in circulation.
According to the Kaohsiung Department of Motor Vehicles, the Aloha bus that crashed completed its second-level maintenance on Sept. 5, at which time it was fitted with a collision-avoidance warning system.
In general, if so fitted, a loud alarm should sound if the vehicle gets too close to the one in front, giving the driver time to slow down.
Unfortunately, as few vehicles actually maintain a safe following distance on national highways, drivers tend to turn these systems off, worried about being distracted by the noise.
For this reason, these systems should be adjusted slightly so that the warnings fit in more with how people drive.
At the same time, drivers should be trained how to use them properly. Otherwise, they will not perform their function of avoiding collisions and of warning drivers who are letting their attention stray.
Finally, something must be done about cars driving without their lights on.
Many sections of the nation’s freeways have no lighting to save on costs. The government should consider following how things are done in advanced countries in the West, where vehicles are required to have reflective number plates and markings to reduce the number of collisions caused by drivers not paying attention to what is happening in front of them.
It always takes a major road accident for the government to take any action to improve road safety.
Then, as time passes, people gradually forget the urgency of the issue and efforts to improve the situation fade.
Hopefully, this time the government will be forward-looking enough to do something about it.
Lee Ker-tsung is an associate professor in Feng Chia University’s Department of Transportation Technology and Management.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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