Traffic Accidents, part 2

The other day, I was reading an article about how driving style affects fuel millage; the results were really interesting, if you you drive properly, within the speed limit and do not accelerate and decelerate suddenly(like most jerks with BMWs do,) your saving might be more that 10%(up to 30% if I recall)

So how would this fact help with car accidents? Well for the last 2 yrs, the government has attempted to improve the driving style with stupid advertisements like:

*Every 10 seconds one person dies from car accidents
*Ever year, X people die from car accidents
*Every day, X people die from car accidents.

These are nice facts to know but they should not can go on doing what they were doing and expect any change in results. 2 years of advertising produces virtually no decrease in accidents.

If people knew that they can save X Jds by driving like proper human beings, with lots of advertising and TV programming on the subject, there might be some chance of success. Even a few percentage point are welcome here.

A few yrs ago, this idea would have had a lower chance of success. However, with the current fuel prices, it might just work. And what if it does not work? Well, try something else until it does.

Accidents

I was watching the TV the other day and there was one of those new programs that are targeting the subject of car accidents. The guy was saying something like" The government has done everything in it's power to reduce traffic accidents, and now the ball is in the citizen's half of the playground "

IMHO, nothing could be farther from the truth, the government has done almost nothing to alter the crappy driving culture that we have. Let me just give few examples:

*No action is taken against people who treat lanes as if they do not exist.
*No action is taken against people who who never use the right and left turn signals
*No actions is taken against people who tailgate on the highways
*No action is taken against people who abuse their car's horn

The government can and should have an army of traffic police driving and stationed on all the highways. This should not be done as a quick fix, but should go on indefinably in the hope that slowly and gradually people would stop driving like jerks.

Furthermore, this army of traffic cops would need to be doubled during the summer as the number of cars almost doubles. Most of these cars come from the gulf where the poor quality of Jordanian driving almost pales in comparison.

Additionally, the ticketing of individuals coming from the gulf would not only be a good stream of income for the treasury, but would also insure a reduction in the number of accidents.

One more thing the government can and should do is to try to appeal to gulf states to improve their driving standards. Not only would this benefit these gulf states, but in the end it would also benefit Jordan.