Ethics on the Roads    
       
 

 

 "Traffic accidents and ethics"

Professor Per Loeken

(Paper presented on: First Conference on the Ethics of Traffic and Transportation, KTH, Stockholm 29-30 November 2005)

 

Introduction

The ethical behaviour in industrialised countries has been put under pressure. Examples are accounting practice, large companies acting abroad, payments to general managers and their incentive schemes, etc. During the last year in Norway we have seen cases where large food companies pay distributors to keep away competitors and suppliers paying personal benefits to managers of shops to get own products better promoted and positioned in the shops.

In areas where the ethics does not manage to set fair limits, the lawmakers get under pressure to give new laws to cope with the unfair behaviour. The examples mentioned have been given good coverage in the media. The amounts concerned are a few tens of million NOK or individuals which may lose or have lost their job. Another area with quite another dimension is continuously running without large reports in the media. In this area one individual is killed unnecessarily nearly every third day year round in Norway. The coverage may be a picture in the local newspaper.

This has been going on and on, year after year. Are the killing on our roads just accidents we have to accept due to the drivers own actions or can this be really reduced? In this paper, I will focus on a few problems and look on them from an ethical view. I will ask the question if the main actors behave in an ethic mode, suitable for a free democratic country we can be proud of? Let us start to look on the marketing of some well known car models and the actual number of individuals killed or hurt by the same models in the traffic. Further I will look upon the formal responsibilities and what could be done by key actors as the Department of Transport, and the Parliament.

Marketing of different car models. The marketing of private cars spans a wide sector. It is a lot of technical data and pictures. From one group of manufacturers the fun of driving, speed and acceleration are main parts of the message. Some examples shall illustrate this: Volvo has been marketing their S80 model with 272 Hp. To avoid to high speed, the car is equipped with an electronic speed limit device, pre-set before delivery.

For cars to be used in Norway this maximum speed is set to 250 km/hour. Another Volvo is shown beside a wall with the shadow from an amusement park with the text: "Welcome to the amusement park." Mercedes shows the driver from behind in their advertisement for the C-model. In the car mirror the driver face is shown as a child’s face. The text was: "The C-model brings forward the child in you.’ and further: "It is long since a car was so fun." BMW follows this track by: "For you who has a child. Or is one yourself." BMW shows a picture of their car with the text: "This is not a toy. In reality". BMW tells about their development of Driving Fun. In a leaflet for a BMW model the car was pictured beside of a large jet aeroplane.

The text was: "Ready for take-off" An Audi advertisement shows two traffic signs on the same pole. The first sign shows a round-about and the next sign on the same pole shows the speed limit of 90 km/hour. The text: "Sits as quattro." In another advertisement from Audi, a S-swing on a winter road is shown. Slalom ports are placed in the swings and the text reads: "It is easy to loose the driving joy on winter roads." Audi shows a car on a road out in the countryside with no houses and the passenger asks: "Was the Oslo Post High building to the right?" The Audi S4 with 344 Hp is shown from the back with a pair of sun glasses in the air lost from the driver. On the next page the same road is shown and the sun glasses is still in the air. The car is gone, around the curve, far in the back.



BMW shows a picture of a BMW car and the driver on the back of a bull in full speed. The message is: "Everything else becomes suddenly boring." Mazda asks their potential customers in an advertisement: "Do you want to Play?" Under the car is written: "Zoom - zoom". Nissan promises: "Never again a boring car." Parts of the marketing of cars, as illustrated, use approaches which does not improve safety on the road as the traffic law does require and most of the drivers prefer. The fundamental ethical question is: Is this marketing ethical? Is it at all ethical to actively promote driver attitude's, which reduces the safety level on the roads? And form the other angle, is it ethical by the media, or from the authorities to allow this type of promotion in the media?

The other question is: Is the number of causalities larger for cars marketed for fun on the roads? Data for cars, usage and causalities in Norway Data over injured individuals in Norwegian traffic accidents has been bought from the Norwegian Statistical Institute (SSB) for the years 2001 to 2003. The data over all registrated cars in Norway has been bought from "Opplysningsrådet for veitrafikken AS". The driving length per year is basically not registrated. The auto insurance companies, however, have statistical data for the insurance miles used. This average data for each car model is used as the miles per year. Around 95 % of all private cars registrated are included. Only car models with relatively few numbers are excluded.

Traffic accidents for car models - An interactive presentation program. An interactive presentation program includes around 30 car companies and around 150 car models. The program allows the presentation of: - Freely selected car type and model. - Injuries as function of selected car model age. - Injuries as function of driver age. - Injuries as function of hour during the day. - Injuries as function of month during the year - Degree of injuries (Death, very serious, serious, light) >- Types of accident. - Injuries for female or male drivers The presentations show average data for the years 2001 to and including 2003. I some cases the actual data for each of the three years are also available.

Serious injuries The diagram below shows the serious injuries as function of car type pr. 100.000.000 driving km. during year 2002. At the injury top are cars from BMW, Mercedes, Ford, Audi and Volvo.In the statistical data from SSB, no information is given regarding which car was responsible for the accident. The number of injuries has been counted for each car model connected to the accident.

As a consequence of this the same injured person may be counted more than once if a number of cars were involved in the same accident. The more accidents a car model is involved in, the higher number of injured will be connected to this car model.

The car age. Average car age is calculated for different degrees of injuries finding around 8 years for all types of injuries. For fatal injuries the average age was around 10 years for the cars involved.
 

The driver age Average driver age is calculated for different degrees of injuries finding around 40 years for all injuries. For fatal injuries the average age was around 43 years age for the drivers. This calculation result differs quite considerably for different models. Potentials for saved lives. An analysis has been performed in steps by reducing the maximum risk level. The reality of this analysis is to find the number of injuries reduced if the car model with highest risk level improve to the risk level for the next. The risk level is reduced step by step and the number of injuries is calculated for each step. If the 21 car models with highest risk levels improve their risk level to the level of car model number 22, a number of 20 persons may save their life a year. If the maximum risk level is reduced to car model 39 out of the 150, 45 lives can be saved pr. year.

                                                                                      To top of page


Around 100 lives can be saved if 60 car models perform the driving with equal or better safety level as the rest. In addition around 3000 injuries may be avoided. If these figures represent the reality, they have to be taken seriously. The potential improvement may be considerable if those responsible take proper actions. If the total car industry could be included in the safety work as well, a lot may be obtained. The ethics in not participating in any active work against the improvements of safety attitudes on the roads, clearly tells the realities behind the responsible part in question. Evaluations of car models and injuries Some results from the analysis are:
  • The number of injuries connected to different car models differ quite a lot.
  • Some car models having an aggressive message in the marketing shows up to be involved in more injuries than average.
  • The "safe" cars are found in all categories of injuries. (Jaguar has least injuries. BMW is among the worst and Kia has a real bad model in Kia Sportage).
  • A car model as Citroën BX may not be among the safest cars as such. The number of injuries, however, is less than average. The same applies to a small car as Toyota Yaris.
A lot of work has been laid down in safeguarding the driver and passengers in new cars in case of accidents. At the other side, if this added safety opens the driver for higher speeds and increased risk level in the mode of driving, the resulting number of injuries may increase rather than be reduced for some "safe" car models. The impression is that the driver attitudes and behaviour are more important for the safety on the roads, compared to the cars safety levels for the inside passengers.

If the driver's attitude and driving style is among the key factors related to road safety, the main question is how these attitudes can be influenced. The negative influence is demonstrated through the marketing of some car models as BMW, Mercedes, Volvo and Audi. Where do we in the media find a positive message with the same influence towards safe driving? Responsibility The responsibility related to car accidents is clearly placed on the driver in §3 in the Norwegian traffic law from 1965. Others, however, having influence are:
  • All traffic participants on the road
  • Road designers and maintenance people at state, regional and municipal levels
  • Car dealers and manufactory companies
  • Police
  • The Parliament
  • The Department of Transport
  • The media
With all these responsible, the real responsibility is pulverised. Who takes action related to the advertisements for a more risky traffic attitude? Is the pulverised responsibility an ethical problem? Do we have an ethical problem area related to the lawmakers real responsibility and at the same time their unwillingness to take the needed actions? The members of Parliament represent the people and their attitudes. Who is responsible for changing these attitudes?

Some strong forces in the car industry do influence the people in the wrong direction. Where is the real counter-force? Is this an ethical problem related to the members of Parliament and Department of Transport? Media and accidents in the community >We have in Norway had some few large accidents with a number of killed people:
  • The floating platform "Alexander L. Kielland" went round in Marsh 1980 and 123 were killed.
  • A passenger speed boat, "Sleipner" went down in 1999 and 16 was killed.
  • Two trains collided at Åsta during year 2000 with 19 killed.
All these accidents got full coverage in the media. The companies and authorities were investigated and errors/mistakes corrected to reduce the chances for new accidents. In total 158 were killed. Since 1980 approximately 7500 people has been killed on Norwegian roads and around 225.000 injured. How is the relation between the initiatives taken by the authorities and the total number of killed and injured in the offshore and transportation systems in Norway?

Is the safety work primarily driven by the media and not by the number of killed and injured? Media focus on good selling news, not so much on the daily accidents on the roads. This is a type of "back noise" which are permanent. Components of an action plan What could be done if the responsible body in reality wants to improve the safety on Norwegian roads? Below is a list of possible action list of "soft-tools". The "hard-tools" related to the roads and cars itself are not included here.
  1. A large-scale professional campaign for traffic safety on the roads.
  2. Establish a campaign person "Rusken". "Rusken" has all the bad attitudes related to road safety. No one should want to be a "Rusken". The children or wife/husband in the car should not want to have a "Rusken" driver. The safe and smooth driving should be the aim for everybody on the road. The "driving joy" should be exchanged with "driving safe".
  3. The campaign would have to be performed by highly professional promotion companies through all normal canals as papers, radio, TV, etc.
  4. An annual competition could be introduced connected with an "Oscar" price for the car model having least injured. Parallel to this a negative "Oscar" could be given to the car model having relatively the highest number of injuries during the last year. Clear criteria for best and worst has to be established in advance.
  5. In addition to car models, the media, the journalist and the promotion agency having given the best attitude towards safe driving during the last year should get their "Oscar" as well. The worst in relation to road safety could get a negative "Oscar".
  6. The actual injury statistics related to car models could be made open available on Internet.
  7. The number of new cars with unneeded large motors could be restricted. This could be done by a real high tax on unneeded horsepower's.
Such a campaign will cost a lot of money. To get a real effect, around one billion NOK may be needed. The advantage, however, is reduced number of killed and injured persons. An estimate from a key doctor at Ullevaal hospital in Oslo indicated that the total bill for all traffic injured in Norway is in the order of 25 billion NOK per year. One thing is the costs, another is the pain and sorrow connected to all the death and injures.

The losers from such a campaign would be parts of the car industry, the car repair workshops, special those connected to the cars having the highest image of speed and driving joy on the roads. They have invested a lot on their image and their type of cars and they will probably argue against such a campaign. At the other side, if some car sellers and manufacturing companies regard such a campaign as a threat, this by itself prove the need for a counterattack to re-establish safety on the road as a prime aim. Accidents will always occur.

The aim for such a campaign could be to reduce the injury/death rate by 1/4 to 1/2 of the present level. If a real counterattack on the dangerous attitudes and behaviour in the traffic is not done, the main responsibility for this is laying within the Parliament and the Department of Transport. The media may help to put the agenda on the table. The media, however, is partly paid by the advertisements from the car industry and my experience is that the media with advertisement revenue is not interested in this message. This illustrates the general ethical problem between money and other values in the society.
 
 
 
Copyright, © 2006-2012   SikkerTrafikk.no | www.safetraffic.info |