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Vehicle Safety

Vehicle Safety. About Me. Dominic Hall Started on gap year expedition to Belize Since then led expeditions all around the world: Belize, Borneo, Norway, Slovakia, Peru, Costa Rica, Oman...

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Vehicle Safety

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  1. Vehicle Safety

  2. About Me • Dominic Hall • Started on gap year expedition to Belize • Since then led expeditions all around the world: Belize, Borneo, Norway, Slovakia, Peru, Costa Rica, Oman... • Variety of projects: school groups, gap year conservation projects, adult science projects... • Now run UK side of Fieldskills Ltd

  3. About Andy • Andy Rowlinson • Started life in the military, served in total 24 years operating all over the world. • Since then led expeditions all around the world: Belize, Borneo, Norway, Congo, Peru, Africa, Oman... • Variety of projects: school groups, Adult groups, crisis incident management. • Now works as freelance leader and trainer.

  4. Aim • to help people enjoy, plan and run safe and successful expeditions About Fieldskills • Based in UK and Borneo • Achieve this through: • - Logistical Support • - Training

  5. Logistics • Commercial holidays, schools expeditions, University fieldwork trips

  6. Training • Started with Tropical Forest Safety Course • Royal Society at Danum Valley • Now train rangers,expedition leaders, student groups... Want to ensure people have the skills and confidence to keep doing fieldwork

  7. About This Course • Our aim is to look at Vehicle Safety: • What are the problems? • What practical steps can we take to manage them? • Look at practical examples and exercises • Look at vehicle checks and scenarios

  8. Let’s start with a video… • I want you to watch this short video clip: • List all the safety issues you see • Suggests what mitigations are in place – or could be added WATCH VIDEO

  9. Specific dangers identified: • Tired, un-acclimatised driver • Known dangerous road – 100 lives a year • Car – stands out – security issues • Ancient trucks, overloaded trucks • Narrow track – no crash barriers, steep drops • Drink – declined but suggests is acceptable • Rock fall – plus insufficient equipment to clear • Landslides • Other vehicles and drivers

  10. Mitigations: • Sorcerer! • Appropriate vehicle – specially designed for off road • Experienced driver • Timotao– ‘human traffic lights’

  11. Additional Suggested Mitigations: • Pre-planning – avoidance of this road?...– or is there an actual risk? • “Hardly any deaths on that road any more as 95% of traffic stopped using it 2-3 years ago when the new North Yungas road opened. I think the "Death Road" and various other dramatic sounding names it goes under were invented by mountain biking agencies to promote their tours down it in any case” Thorn - Tree Travel Forum

  12. The "death road" used to be the only way down the Yungas and at first traffic (including many trucks) went both ways, later it went alternately being closed to traffic heading up or down. Though still a lot of accidents occurred. The Organisation of American States (or was it the Pan-American Development Bank - I'm not sure) was the one to first call this road the most dangerous road in the world. Thorn - Tree Travel Forum So RESEARCH – and PRE-PLANNING are all important

  13. Other possible Mitigations: • • More rest and acclimatisation for driver • Two drivers to share driving • Would a local driver, experienced on that road be better? • If a group – a convoy with clients in second vehicle? • Seat belts, airbags… what is possible locally?

  14. THE FACTS In Britain in 2009: 222,146 reported casualties 2,222 people were killed 24,690 were seriously injured • HOWEVER – These have fallen from 2008 : • Fatalities down by 12% SO – in the UK – the figures are shocking BUT the numbers are falling inspite of rising traffic…

  15. This is NOT the case overseas :

  16. Road crashes kill at least 1.3 million people each year and injure 50 million, a toll greater than deaths from malaria • Ninety percent of these road casualties are in low and middle income countries • Britain has a fatality rate of one death per 10,000 vehicles; in Ethiopia and Uganda it is over 190.

  17. A random slection from winter 2010…:

  18. Key Points: • Should we, as travellers, take risks we wouldn’t take at home? • To some extent we have to – for example – are seatbelts always available… but we have to balance the risks. • We have to be aware of differences in ‘road user culture’ • It is a GROWING problem

  19. Exercise: • Go through the article and pick out the main issues relevant to vehicles on expeditions and fieldwork

  20. The full report is very detailed… • Road trauma now ranks as the leading cause of death and injury among international tourists. • Unless action is taken, the numbers will continue to rise. • Globally, international tourist road fatalities could increase three-fold to around 75,000 per annum in 2030. • Road transport systems in the overwhelming majority of low- and middle-income countries around the world are ‘medium’ or ‘higher’ risk - i.e. their road transport systems are not safe.

  21. Tourist risks will also be higher due to tourist-specific risks such as: • Unfamiliarity, disorientation, distraction and fatigue; • Tourists not being prepared – for example not knowing safety practices across countries • Tourists should not have to accept road safety risks as inevitable: • The impacts of tourist road crashes are not restricted to those involved.

  22. Realities… WATCH VIDEO

  23. So what can we do… “It is astonishing that people who have spent much time and money in preventing illness during an expedition should, on arrival at the destination, entrust their lives to untried crazy-looking drivers and unsound vehicles. The risk is much greater in less developed countries, where there has been an epidemic increase in road traffic accident fatalities over the past 20 years and where 85 per cent of these deaths now occur (BMJ 2002)” Quote from RGS Expedition handbook – Dr David Warrell

  24. So we can not always stop every accident……but we can reduce the risks • WHO is driving • WHAT are they driving • WHEN they are driving • WHERE are they driving • HOW are they driving

  25. What can we control about… WHO is driving • do they have a license • are they fit to drive • influence of drugs, drink, medication… • are they alone – do they have a replacement?

  26. What can we control about… WHAT they are driving • Do the basic functions of vehicle work • Steering, lights, brakes, tyres – • Do they have seatbelts • Is the vehicle appropriate for the terrain

  27. Do Seatbelts make a difference? 25 years after the first seatbelt law came into action, around 370 people a year are still being killed in road crashes because they do not wear a seatbelt. Source: RoSPA (2008). In a crash at 30mph, if you are unrestrained, you will hit the front seat, and anyone in it, with a force of between 30 and 60 times your own body weight.

  28. Do Seatbelts make a difference? • Video 1 • Video 2

  29. What can we control about… WHEN are they driving • "Driving tired, Falling asleep at the wheel is the cause of around 20% of accidents on long journeys on trunk roads and motorways. Men aged 30 and under are more likely to have a sleep related vehicle accident. • Itinerary planning • Research into specific dangers of local roads • The greatest risk of falling asleep at the wheel is between midnight and 6am." Source: http://www.dft.gov.uk/think/

  30. What can we control about… WHERE they are driving • Can we route plan from the beginning to avoid high risk areas

  31. What can we control about… HOW they are driving • A culture of questioning • Overloaded vehicles… Mobile phones

  32. Does Using A Mobile Phone While Driving Impair Driving Performance?... YES It impairs: • Maintenance of lane position, • appropriate and predictable speed, • appropriate following distances from vehicles in front, • reaction times, • judgement and acceptance of safe gaps in traffic • General awareness of other traffic… • …Even with hands free kits… For more details see: http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/info/mobile_phone_report.pdf

  33. “Overloading your vehicle must not be considered an option” “Ah but I’ve seen vehicles with roof racks up to here…”, say some, and they will probably have seen the same vehicles rolled on to their sides as a result of the high centre of gravity or with cracked pillars because of the fatigue loads in elements not designed for the stress. TRAILER TIP – keep the loading down to 60% of the maximum – keep the centre of gravity low down and keep high mass items close to the trailer axle. Tom Sheppard – Expedition Handbook…

  34. VEHICLE PLANNING AND DYNAMIC ASSESSMENTS • Practical Session

  35. Conclusions: • Vehicle Safety is a combination of: • GOOD PRE-PLANNING • Good risk assessment and vehicle policies • Good pre-trip checks and project management • GOOD DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT • Ability to adapt plans to changing circumstances • Culture of questioning • Ability to assess dynamically what is acceptable

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