Vehicle Ergonomics in driving vital - Sealetsa

Written by SAKAREA MAKGAPHA

University of Botswana (UB) lecturer in the Department of Industrial Design has said vehicle ergonomics are important in driving. He said this at a seminar hosted by MVA at the Maharaja Conference Centre last week. Mr. Jaster Sealetsa said vehicle ergonomics is the relationship between people and vehicles and the environment under which vehicles are used. He said when “we apply the concept of ergonomics to vehicle handling we are simply trying to avoid accidents and injuries”. He said common injuries suffered in road accidents lead to amputation, paralysis, fractures, lacerations and brain damage. He said these injuries are called repetitive driving injuries. He said the position that we adapt while driving can increase the risk of accidents. He said drivers must sit fully on the seats and lean back. He also said driver’s seats must be proportional to the steering wheel. “We must stop the habit of holding the gear lever and steering wheel at the same time, we must also not lean our elbow on the window level while driving”. He said this makes the body not to relax and it may cause accidents as the spinal cord is affected.  He also said the way our roads are constructed sometimes may leads to accidents. On road accidents statistics, the Officer Commanding Traffic Division Superintendent Andrew Montshiwa said the major road safety indicators show that there is a significant improvement in the road safety in Botswana.  “For instance, over the past five years, the number of road traffic accidents per 1,000 registered motor vehicles dropped from 96 in 2004 to 62 recorded in 2008, during the same period, fatalities per 100,000 population went down from 30 to 18.  However, the proportion of casualty accidents (accidents with injuries) remained relatively the same at +/- 23 percent over this period”.  He said they have enforcement initiatives like purchasing of new detection law enforcement technology such as laser speed detectors, equipping traffic highway patrol vehicles with moving mode radar systems and introduction of the Sobriety Checkpoints and Saturation Patrols programme to fight drunken driving. The Botswana Gazette