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Adam Cohen
Miami, FL
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Adam commented on the article |Ok, I'll concede that some degree of government intervention might be helpful to improve road/highway infrastructure, but only because this area has historically been managed and administered by government. In fact, this is precisely why it is so inefficient, and traffic congestion is endemic in most cities worldwide. Once wealth increases in the developing word (via free markets and private property guarantees), public works will improve automatically, since related corruption will become less endemic (a $1,000 bribe goes a long way in a country where the average monthly salary is $200). In the meantime, my suggestion would be private aid/charities to build pedestrian bridges/crossings, vastly improve all road signs, and create educational campaign for everyone via conspicuously visible warnings at locations known for high accident rates. Government intervention would be required only in as much to allow these initiatives to do their work.
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Adam commented on the article |
Amazing how, as usual, Change.org leads this discussion directly into a plug for more government intervention. Perhaps one of the reasons that road safety does not "garner the same kind of developed-world sympathy - and aid dollars - that infectious diseases do" is that traffic accidents are almost completely avoidable, in any country. I've personally driven hundreds of thousands of miles in "traffic lawless" regions, like Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, and have never even had so much as a fender-bender. A responsible driver can avoid accidents, except in extremely rare cases. Furthermore, traffic laws will not significantly reduce the fatality rate; they will only serve to increase government corruption and tax (via traffic fines) those that can least afford it -- the poor. Traffic fines represent the most regressive form of taxation, ever.
Now, what will reduce fatality rates are:
1) Improved infrastructure
2) Improved emergency response
3) Improved safety features of vehicles
As one can see from the following link, the U.S. traffic fatality rate has declined markedly over the 1983 - 2003 period, even as highway speed limits have been raised almost nationwide.
http://www.saferoads.org/federal/2004/TrafficFatalities1899-2003.pdf
Finally, it's worth noting that most accidents occur in the developing world because there are more people in the developing world. Take 42,000 accidents per 305 million people in the USA, and extrapolate that to a 6.2 billion world population, and suddenly 1.3 million doesn't seem like such an extraordinary number, but it still could be reduced by addressing the three issues above. That will happen only when free markets and free trade allow wealth, and related safety benefits, to spread worldwide.
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