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Road accidents are being termed the man-made plague of the machine age. Indeed, they have become a major cause of death and injury at the present time. Adults, as well as children are falling victim to modern progress and speedy communications.
In Israel road accidents cause many fatalities and casualties of all degrees of severity. The annual financial losses to the national economy, in terms of property damage, insurance indemnities, loss of earnings etc., are substantial. In spite of this tremendous damage there is a considerable lack of understanding, here and elsewhere, of the real accident causes and of the efficacy of remedial measures. The main causes of road accidents are usually grouped as follows:
- The motor-vehicle, its structure and accessories;
- The road and its environment, including climatic and meteorological conditions;
- The man, his physical and mental fitness and shortcomings, his behavior as a road-user.
Accident investigation points to the fact that the vast majority of accidents are attributable to human failures, while the road and the vehicle contribute, at the utmost, 10 percent each.
However, it should be pointed out, that efforts to adapt the highway and vehicle structure to the known human shortcomings, have met with a notable success in diminishing the probability of erroneous or improper behavior, resulting in an accident. It should be borne in mind that the overwhelming majority of accidents can be attributed to no single cause. In most cases accidents are caused by an interplay of several factors. Consequently, no universal cure-all for road accidents can be found.
Efforts in the field of accident prevention are being channeled into three main avenues of approach:
- Engineering, which deals mainly with the following subjects:
- Vehicle construction, maintenance and repair, to ensure it's proper operation;
- Road construction, maintenance and repair;
- Elimination of conflict between opposing traffic streams. Facilitation of orientation by means of road marking, traffic signs, etc.
- Enforcement. The chief fields of activity are:
- Determination of rules and standards for road structure and marking, for vehicle structure, equipment and maintenance, and for the behavior of road-users;
- Supervision and enforcement of the above standards and rules. Punishment of violators;
- Education aims at influencing the road users to safe behavior mainly by means of training, publicity and propaganda, encouragement, prizes, etc.
It is to the education in safe traffic rules that this set of stamps is dedicated.
