Gallery
Road users in low and middle income countries face many difficulties. A few of those difficulties are depicted below.
Many dirt roads are impassable during the rainy season, as in Mato Grosso. Cutback of deliveries creates hardship in rural communities.
After rain, uneven roads and poor drainage imperil pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers as they maneuver to avoid potholes and puddles.
India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways reported 3,597 people killed and 25,000 injured in 2017 due solely to potholes.
Hindustan Times headline, 17 August 2019: “Mumbai sees 3rd pothole death in a month”.
CNN headline, 2 July 2019: “Nigeria oil tanker explosion kills at least 50 people”. The tanker overturned trying to avoid a pothole;
according to the BBC, sparks from a passing bus’s exhaust pipe dragging on the road reportedly ignited the tanker.
Decrepit vehicles prone to frequent breakdowns are a common roadway sight.
According to the Japan International Cooperation Agency, 3.5 billion pesos are lost daily due to Metro Manila traffic jams.
The oil tanker driver’s attempt to cross the tracks before the train passed killed at least 7 and injured 63 in Jakarta.
Crashes at railway crossings occur less often than crashes between motor vehicles, but their effect is usually more devastating.
Correct signs and markings, which are essential for safety, must accompany construction of modern roadways.
The dashed lines on this road permit overtaking when overtaking should be prohibited before blind crests of hills.
Installation of correct signage is insufficient when maintenance is lacking.
Maintenance is necessary for providing drivers with legible, quickly understood information
and for instilling confidence in and respect for signage and for the road itself.
Uncontrolled advertising creates visual pollution, distracts drivers, and camouflages road signs.
Billboards on this motorway in Cairo overwhelm the road signs posted on the right-hand side of the road.
Drivers in the left lanes may not notice the road signs, especially when traffic volume is high.
Overloading occurs on pushcarts, pedal cycles, tricycle taxis, cars, vans, and small and large commercial trucks.
Cargo consists of goods (personal or commercial), people, livestock, and a combination of these.
These everyday sights in Africa and most of Asia indicate danger to all types of road users.
Hazards include vehicle rollover due to wind, bends in the road, potholes, and low or soft shoulders,
and low horizontal and/or vertical visibility for travelers behind overloaded vehicles.
A government program for renting tows or trailers may alleviate this problem.
All road users are responsible for road safety. That includes pedestrians.
Despite conveniently located marked crosswalks and bridges with escalators,
many pedestrians in Tehran habitually cross streets outside crosswalks and beneath bridges.
Roadside railings for deterring unsafe crossing may ironically add hazards to pedestrians
as they walk on the pavement till the railing ends.
An absence of mass transit leads travelers to rent space for themselves and their luggage on various types of vehicles.
Hitting obstructions, such as potholes and bumps in the road, may endanger passengers.
When a truck and school bus collided near Pretoria, 19 children aged 5-10 and their driver were killed.
The Muslim Community Report called for more police to ensure compliance with traffic rules
and keep unsafe vehicles off the roads. Some disagree that more police is the remedy.
South Africa’s Transport Minister attributes many crashes to reckless driving
and claims the effect of more police would be limited:
“If human behavior doesn’t change, there isn’t much that police can do.”
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