Outline of My Second Oral Presentation

Sugar Bear in the Hot Zone

This is a presentation of Driving Lessons, J. Peter Rothe, University of Alberta Press, 2002,               p. 133-141

By Robert Lee

 

Instructions for this oral presentation are found at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/.eonj/leonj/leonpsy22/g22-oral.htm

 

 

I.                     “Carnage Alley”

a.        Stretch of highway between Chatham and Windsor located on Highway 401.

                                                               i.      It starts from Windsor, Detroit and goes beyond London, Ontario.

                                                              ii.      This stretch of highway is a major route for trucks transporting Good to and from the US

b.       Windsor accident

                                                               i.      Nelson Shognosh a.k.a. Sugar Bear

1.        The “Hot Zone”

c.        Other interesting facts

                                                               i.      25% of crashes located here are by U.S. drivers.

                                                              ii.      As of February 2005, the Ministry of Transportation is debating about a proposed, $277 million, five-phase construction plan to make the stretch of highway safer.

II.                   Sweden’s Vision Zero

a.        The Vision Zero program recognizes that it’s not realistic to eliminate accidents, but aims to eliminate serious injury and death that may result from accidents.

b.       Vision Zero is based on four principles:

                                                               i.      Ethics: human life and health are paramount and take priority over mobility and other objectives of the road traffic system

                                                              ii.      Responsibility: providers and regulators of the road traffic system share responsibility with users

                                                            iii.      Safety: road traffic systems should take account of human fallibility and minimize both the opportunities for errors and the harm done when they occur

                                                            iv.      Mechanisms for change: providers and regulators must do their utmost to guarantee the safety of all citizens; they must cooperate with road users; and all three must be ready to change to achieve safety (http://www.euro.who.int)

c.        Vision Zero plans that by the year 2007, fatalities will be reduced to 250 per year.

III.                 Canada’s Road Safety Visions 2001

a.        Visions 2001 believes that, “most accidents can be avoided with common-sense solutions”

                                                               i.      Shunning alcohol

                                                              ii.      Wearing your seat belt

                                                            iii.      Speeding

                                                            iv.      And etc…

b.       William Haddon

                                                               i.      First Director of the US NHTSA

                                                              ii.      He devised a traffic safety matrix, which included, “vehicle design and equipment, driver behavior, or, more generally, human factors, and the highway environment.” (Rothe, 135)

                                                            iii.      He emphasized on improving the crash worthiness of automobiles and redesigning the highway environment.

c.        Canada’s roads vs. Sweden’s roads

                                                               i.      Canadian authorities compared Canada’s roads to Sweden’s roads and found that Sweden’s roads may be safer, because Sweden has stricter laws on drinking and driving

1.        Sweden’s BAC (Blood Alcohol Count) is 0.02 compared to Canada’s BAC which is 0.08.

                                                              ii.      Vision 2001 wants more active enforcement with increasing fines and harsher treatment for repeat offenders

1.        A driver who is operating his vehicle flawlessly and passes the filed sobriety test would still be guilty of drunk driving if a breath test showed that his BAC was 0.10 or greater.

 Helpful Links:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/news/?/news/2000/06/08/401_inquest000608

http://www.chathamthisweek.com/story.php?id=143260

http://www.euro.who.int/whd/20040212_2

http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/tp/tp13736/menu.htm

 

Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2005/lee/home.htm