Road safety drive in curriculum not a solution

A Road Safety Awareness to be used in the education curriculum by students is not a solution to minimising the increasing number of road accidents in the country.
The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Road Traffic Authority and the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) may be getting it totally wrong by introducing an activity that is not necessarily going to address the root causes of the increased in rate of accidents in the country.
If we did a typical accident-incident statistical analysis for every accident that has occurred on the national roads, will all accidents be pointing to students’ unsafe and careless behaviour on roads that have resulted in killing more students at schools than on public roads by careless and unworthy for road vehicles nationwide?
Introducing road safety lessons in the school curriculum will not reduce high accident rates in the country.
This is just a small part of a measure in trying to address a big problem but it will not really address the root of the problem.
There are root causes of all road and traffic accidents nationwide that have not been properly investigated and addressed.
There are also contributing factors (unsafe conditions, unsafe behaviour, unsafe acts, and unsafe practices) that contribute to a lot of road accidents which needs to be addressed.
According NRSC, PNG has the highest accident rates and is rated third (3rd) in the world.
How did this come about and who provided the accident statistics and information to the world accident rating body?  Does NRSC have a driver behaviour and road and traffic accidents database with root causes identified?
Accident is an outcome. It is a result of many hazards in an activity that had gone wrong that could not be control resulting in an accident.
It is an unplanned event that results in personal injury, property and equipment damages, environmental damages and unnecessary loss of lives (fatalities).
It is like a tip of an ice-berg. What we see is  tip of an ice-berg, the outcomes (accidents), but what we don’t see are what is hidden under the sea which represents many hazards (substandard conditions, behaviours, acts and practices) and risks (likelihood of harm) which we do not see and these needs to be investigated thoroughly so that root causes are identified.
When the root causes are identified then, these must be addressed or fixed in order to prevent re-occurrences. Road Traffic Authority and NRSC should embark on addressing driver behaviour safety issues across the nation by conducting of a Behavioural Safety Programs such as (defensive driving, driver behavioural safety and risk awareness programs).
You drive the key behavioural safety messages (awareness of hazards, risks, cost of damages to properties, equipment, driver safety and impacts, cost and loss of lives) into addressing drivers’ behaviours.
These are the people who are exposed to hazards and risks and their careless driving (40 ton or more machinery) everyday contributes to a lot of unnecessary accidents on national highways, roads and in towns and cities.

BK. Dara
Baimuru, GP