Drivers ‘more afraid of fines than injury’

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34072, 9 February 1976, Page 2

Drivers ‘more afraid of fines than injury’

Motorists are more afraid of traffic fines than they are of being killed or injured in a road accident, according to a world authority on road accidents, Dr Hans Pacy, of Australia.

“They think it will never happen to them—but when there is a chance they might be fined, they are more likely to do such things is wearing seat belts,” he said in a lecture at the week-end on road accidents.

Dr Pacy, a doctor in a small town in New South Wales, said that education had not reduced the rate of road accidents. “Education has been a complete failure.” Heavier penalties for drunken drivers were not much use. A chemical reaction in the brain made a drinker believe he was a competent driver. "No-one is afraid of a penalty if he thinks he can drive,” Dr Pacy said. Alcohol was clearly a major cause of road accidents. although it was difficult to say what percentage of accidents were caused by it.

Among males between 17 and 23. it was the mam cause of traffic fatalities, said

Dr Pacy, although the rate for females in the same age group was no higher than that for other age-groups. Young males had a “greater daring.” Dr Pacy said that in his town, the introduction of compulsory use of seat belts had reduced fatalities by 20 per cent: and the compulsory use of crash helmets had reduced motor-cycle fatalities by 15 per cent. Careful town planning, one-way roads, separate roads for pedestrians, transport corridors, and “escape room" on the side of roads could help reduce road accidents, Dr Pacy said. The removal of power and telephone poles would also reduce the fatality rate. If poles could not be removed, then easily breakable poles should be used, he said.