Afukaar Francis K
Building & Road Research Institute, U.P.O. Box 40, UST, Kumasi, Ghana.
Inj Control Saf Promot. 2003 Mar-Jun;10(1-2):77-81. doi: 10.1076/icsp.10.1.77.14113.
Speed has been determined to be one of the most common contributing factors in vehicle crashes. This study explores vehicle speed as a factor in the causation of road traffic crashes, using the example of Ghana. It examines the effectiveness of various speed control measures, based on police-reported traffic crashes in Ghana and published works on speed control measures in both industrialized and developing countries. In Ghana, pedestrians were the main victims of road traffic injuries. The dominant driver error assigned by traffic police was loss of control, with the underlying factor being excessive vehicle speeds. The 'speed factor' alone accounted for more than 50% of all Ghanaian road traffic crashes between 1998 and 2000. While the enforcement of speed limits by traffic police may not be affordable for most developing countries, rumble strips and speed humps were found to be effective on Ghanaian roads. Rumble strips installed on the main Accra-Kumasi highway reduced crashes by about 35% and fatalities by about 55%. Reducing vehicle speeds may be one of the most effective interventions to stem traffic crashes in low-income countries. However, setting lower speed limits is not an effective intervention without the traffic law enforcement resources to ensure that limits are followed. Developing countries must also look to other speed reduction measures such as speed bumps and rumble strips, roads that segregate high- and low-speed users, and technological solutions such as speed governors, as well as greater public awareness of the problem.
速度已被确定为车辆碰撞事故中最常见的促成因素之一。本研究以加纳为例，探讨车速作为道路交通事故成因的一个因素。它根据加纳警方报告的交通事故以及工业化国家和发展中国家已发表的关于速度控制措施的著作，研究各种速度控制措施的有效性。在加纳，行人是道路交通伤害的主要受害者。交通警察认定的主要驾驶员失误是失控，根本因素是车速过快。仅“速度因素”就占了1998年至2000年加纳所有道路交通事故的50%以上。虽然对大多数发展中国家来说，交通警察执行限速可能负担不起，但人们发现减速带和减速丘在加纳道路上是有效的。在阿克拉-库马西主要高速公路上安装的减速带使事故减少了约35%，死亡人数减少了约55%。降低车速可能是低收入国家遏制交通事故最有效的干预措施之一。然而，如果没有确保限速得到遵守的交通执法资源，设定更低的限速并不是一种有效的干预措施。发展中国家还必须寻求其他减速措施，如减速丘和减速带、分隔高速和低速使用者的道路，以及诸如速度限制器等技术解决方案，同时提高公众对该问题的认识。
