With today’s better road infrastructure, one would expect to see fewer accidents. No so as 35 people have lost their lives on our roads in a span of three months. We approached Ben Bentipilly, special adviser to the prime minister (Road safety management unit) for some answers to this paradox.

Mr. Buntipillay, there was a very serious accident over the weekend. Several deaths, I understand, and many more are fighting for their lives. What kind of advice have you been giving the authorities?

First of all, let me tell you that I have been on the roads for the last thirty plus years as a police officer. I have witnessed so many accidents, so many dead bodies. My advice to the government has been the right advice.

Yes, but we haven’t seen the effects of that good advice. March must be the worst month we have witnessed so far.

This phenomenon, sad as it is, and I do sympathize with the bereaved families, is nothing new. For years, we have had on an average 150 deaths on our roads.. We cannot just change the culture of road safety overnight. It’s a very long process.

But it’s not been overnight. You’ve been advising the prime minister for at least two years. We should be able to see some changes on our roads.

What you must understand is that we have the three Es in road safety: education, enforcement and engineering. We have been dealing with road accidents on all these levels. As far as our education campaigns are concerned, you can see for yourself. For the enforcement also there is a specialized team from the road safety unit dedicated solely to road safety issues. As for engineering, you can see that there are so many roads that are being built. We have also started the penalty points system...

All this is very well but there’s no enforcement. You just have to stand in front of Mcdonald''''s in Port Louis any one day or stand on the M1 motorway in the mornings and you can see opportunistic drivers committing several offences at the same time and getting away with it.

Every month we have a coordination meeting with all stakeholders and representatives of the different units in the police force. We agree with you that the impact of the different campaigns is limited and that enforcement should be the main thing. But there are constraints. Despite the fact that there are 50 more police officers this year roaming around on any one day on our roads to ensure safety.

But why do the cops stand in front of Mcdonald''s and talk? Why can’t they fine the opportunistic drivers who take the wrong lane because that causes accidents?

Those ones have a specific job: to monitor the traffic. If they leave what is their initial job and start fining those overtaking on the wrong lanes, that will jeopardize the flow of traffic. We have other police officers dealing with just that.

You have cameras in Port Louis. Can these cameras not be used to clamp down on offenders taking the wrong lanes and jeopardizing other people’s safety?

We have many projects under way. We have not waited for that sad accident to happen to be active. We have been proactive. We are working on various projects concerning how people learn to drive, how they are tested etc. It’s a long process. It’s a whole culture that we have to change. Speeding forms part of it but there is also drink driving. And as far as speed is concerned, one has to make the difference between speeding and driving at an inappropriate speed. People should know that driving at inappropriate speeds may cause serious or fatal accidents.

Do you think the terrible accident over the weekend could have been prevented?

Accidents are not inevitable. They will always happen, even in Germany, Holland and Canada where there is a road culture we should learn from. Now this accident that happened, not to cause prejudice to the enquiry, is due apparently to a brake failure from Nouvelle France! The vehicle is a tool. Those who gave the tool should make sure it is safe for driving.

You mean it is the responsibility of the company?

It is a shared responsibility. The driver, the company, all of us. And to solve the problem, we need a holistic approach. This is why we have a project underway where drivers have to be retrained. They need to adapt their driving to various conditions like night time, poor weather conditions etc. It’s very unfortunate to see people driving by habit and not worrying about the different road conditions. And people will, unfortunately, not learn from this accident. This shock reaction you have seen will last only for a few days.

Will you learn from it?

(A bit exasperated) Excuse me, I didn’t wait for this accident to learn! When I was still young in the year 1975, there were 15 school children killed at Rose Belle. I witnessed the accident. I saw the suffering of the people. I saw a mother mourning her two children in the same accident! (Sighs). My concern about road safety does not emanate from my heart but from my soul!

In that case, you should deploy more policemen to catch those reckless drivers.

Last November, we launched the road safety motorized scheme.

But where are the cops? I never see them when inconsiderate drivers continuously zig zag on the road jeopardizing the safety of others.

I don’t understand why you don’t see them. We have records of so many fines they impose. How do they fine people if they are not on the beat?

They fine them for speeding. The cameras do the work. But speed
alone does not kill. It is indiscipline which does.

No, I disagree. There are hundreds of fines for inappropriate driving and what you call zigzagging falls in that category. And I agree with you that speed alone does not kill. This is why we take enforcement very seriously. But you must also agree that people should play a more active role in protecting themselves. You know that wearing a seatbelt, for example, is for your own safety. Should you wait for a police man to enforce the law before you realize that? People and companies should treat road security as a top priority. Why do people wait to see a speed camera before they slow down?

Isn’t that human nature?

Is it human nature to put an end to so many lives?

It is human nature that if people have nothing to fear, they don’t worry.

Then where is the responsibility?

Where are the cops?

I’ll tell you what happens when the cops try to enforce the law. Take what happens during the crop season, for example, when people go the sugar cane fields very early in the morning.

Some ride bicycles which are in bad condition. When police officers try to enforce the law, what happens? You have all sorts of people criticising on the grounds that these people are poor.

But they are poor, aren’t they? They can’t afford bicycles in good condition.

Does that mean that the police should look away when they know they are endangering their lives?

That alone cannot explain the increase in accidents over the last year, can it?
 
(Excitedly) You were very happy to announce the big headlines concerning the increase in the number of road accidents, but you forgot to say that there has been a substantial decrease in fatal road accidents. Are you aware of that? Do you know why there has been an increase in ‘serious’ road accidents on paper?

I would guess because they have happened.

The accidents happened but the classification is the problem. Here, as soon as you go for treatment at the hospital after an accident, the accident is considered to be a serious one. If we remove all this, there would have been fewer accidents on record. In France, for example, the people injured have to have spent a minimum of six days in hospital for the accident to be classified as ‘serious’. In other places, it is 30 days. We are working on the statistics to have a clearer picture of how we are doing on the roads.

If you came up with new statistics based on a new classification, that would perhaps boost your ego. The fact remains that there are still people dying on our roads.

Yes, I agree with you! And one accident is one too many. But getting the facts right is not a question of boosting our ego. It is a question of knowing exactly where we are so that we can see whether the measures we have been taking have worked or not.

Now, while there are so many bad drivers on our roads, paradoxically, getting a driving licence is becoming harder and harder. Why do you think so many people fail their driving tests?

The way many candidates are being taught, how and by whom they are being taught and how quickly they take their test are all important factors in the equation. I’m not condemning the driving schools because they have contributed with their experience to improving road safety. But some are better than others. Also, the syllabus itself should change as well as aspects of teaching, driving and testing. We are working on that and some testing aspects will be revised.

When you say revised, do you mean testing will be easier of tougher?

Neither. It will simply take into account the fact that you’re getting a driving license for life. The driving test will therefore test your aptitude in different situations. Driving at night, for example, requires different skills from driving during daytime. Yet this is not currently tested. Driving on wet roads too. Soon, the driver will be tested in different road conditions.

Now what about Line Barracks where it all takes place? Will the place become less messy, the cops in a better mood and the queues less interminable?

What a question! I don’t think Line Barracks is a messy place.

‘Messy’ in the sense that you don’t know where to go. Not user-friendly. And the officers, particularly the women, are always in a bad mood.

(Laughs) People are so demanding today! You know, it is often action and reaction. Take your recorder and go there one of these days and you’ll have a case study of how some people address the police officers. I have been there for 30 years. I know.

I thought it was because they are responsible for deciding whether people should drive or continue to take driving lessons that makes them obnoxious?

No. There are obnoxious people in every department. Not everybody is the same. (Laughs) Not all journalists are horrible. I won’t try to analyse what causes the type of behaviour you are talking about. Maybe the place itself. The prime minister has agreed that we are going to change the place. The atmosphere will, I am sure, change too. The name itself Line Barracks isn’t perhaps conducive to friendliness.

Do you have a target for reducing accidents?

By 30%.

By when?

In four years, we will have reduced accidents by 30%. The government is committed to it. The prime minister is actually the one who set up a road safety unit for the first time in Mauritius. I would fail in my duty if I did not support it fully and you also will fail if you don’t report it. He’s the one who has done it. He cares for the lives of the people. Just give us time. And you will come back and say ‘thank you’.

TOURIA PRAYAG

(l''express Weekly, Friday 6th of April 2012)