In one of my previous articles I discussed littering by motorists and their passengers as they travel on our roads which causes diseases and degrades the environment. Today I will discuss other undesired motoring behaviour and how they affect public health.
Drink and Drive
We have seen it or even partaken in it. You have saved money for years through your Sacco and finally you just bought that car or motorbike (popularly called boda boda) that you wished so much for. Everyone around you is excited about it. You set out feeling on top of the world, to show all and sundry in all possible ways that you have ‘arrived’. At the club, alcohol regularly and freely flows and you often take more than is legally allowed to drive a motor vehicle. In today’s urban culture drink-driving is discussed more in terms of the risk of detection by Alcoblow, the police and the National Transportation Authority than the risk of being involved in a road accident. In short most Kenyans who drink and drive fear being caught by the police than they fear being involved in a road accident. However from common sense as well as from public health perspective road accidents cause more harm to individuals, families and society than being arrested by the police. Entire wards in many of our level 4 and 5 hospitals are filled with accident victims, some who stay admitted for months on no end and if lucky to eventually leave hospital, have permanent and life-changing disabilities.
Child Drivers
Apart from driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, other motoring behaviour some Kenyans engage in are equally injurious to our individual and collective health. I have observed cases where parents allow their under-age and unlicensed children to drive the family car. This behaviour is more common in the residential estates and during the weekends. Parents wanting to rest from the weekday routine of driving themselves around or perhaps just feeling the need to show off their families as modern and progressive allow their under-age children to drive the family car. This behaviour is dangerous to the children and families involved but of most concern it is dangerous to the public. Besides, it is against the law. There have been cases now and then of fatal accidents caused by under-age drivers. The message I want to pass to parents today is that because you love your child so much, do not endanger his or her life by allowing him or her to drive before they are mature enough to do it. Be patient and soon your beloved son or daughter will come of age and will drive. Your pride will be greater and more secure then than it is now when your child is an under-age driver at greater risk of being involved in an accident or being arrested for breaking the law. The legal age of 18 years was not decided on arbitrarily. There is sound scientific justification behind it.
Some parents drive their cars while carrying their young children on their lap. I find this most absurd because unlike the under-age drivers, these are often children below 5 years of age who do not see a car for anything else but a toy. You will sometimes observe the adult secured by a seat belt, steering the car from behind an un-belted 5-year old child seated on his or her lap, playing with the car steering wheel like it is a toy car at home. The adult driver is often distracted and more likely to be involved in an accident in which event a collision or sudden braking will cause the unsecured child to be smashed into car the windscreen. When that happens, the adult driver will by natural parental instinct be primarily concerned about saving the child and will thus be more likely to injure other road users by paying less attention to controlling the car.
Belt Up
When the modern car seat belt was first made mandatory by law in the Australia in the 1970s, it revolutionized motoring safety and was cited as one of the major public health successes of the 20th Century. Today, half a century later and in the so called information age, some Kenyans still drive without wearing seat belts. In all vehicles in Kenya, public and private alike, use of seat belts is mandatory by law but how many of us provide functioning seat belts in our vehicles? How many of us consistently wear seat belts?
The policy impact of wearing seat belts is that in case of a vehicle accident, the risk of death of the driver and front-seat passengers is reduced by 45% and the risk of serious injury is cut by 50%. This means that half of the people who die or are seriously injured every year on our roads would be alive and in perfect health today if they had buckled up. Or put another way if you are riding in a car without using a safety belt and an accident occurred, you are twice as likely to die or be seriously injured than if you were wearing a safety belt.
In economic terms as well, traffic accidents adversely affect our well-being at family and national level. The cost and time of accident hospitalization is many times more than the average cost and time of non-accident hospitalization. On top of the huge bills and time spent on hospitalization, matters are exacerbated by the fact that the majority of the motoring accident victims are the young, energetic and most productive members of our families and society. This leaves families and the nation impoverished because the bread winners are killed or disabled through motor accidents. Think about these things and next time before you drive or allow your vehicle to be driven out, ask yourself if you or your driver’s motoring behaviour is preserving and promoting your health, that of your loved ones and the public at large.
The writer is an infectious diseases and public health specialist and acting Dean of the School of Health Sciences South Eastern Kenya University.
