Factors influencing the risk Free Essay Example

Normally the people who are at high risk are pedestrians, Drivers, Passengers, visitors, maintenance people. There are a lot of factors influencing the risk of these hazards which are explained below:

• Carelessness of People and overtime

Drivers and a lot of workers work long shifts and sometimes do not take rest between the shifts and have poor sleep. This results in a state of mental and physical exhaustion affecting the ability of a person to make good decisions while working and result in accidents.

A lot of people do not follow the speed limit and drive faster resulting in serious accidents endangering the pedestrians.

• Narrow road and Number of Vehicles

As the population of Australia is growing, the number of vehicles is increasing as well. A lot of accidents are happening during a busy time as there are vehicles more than the capacity of the road even though all the traffic.

• Alcohol consumption and Drug abuse.

According to Road Safety NT, 2017, alcohol was a factor in 191 deaths on Territory roads.

Alcohol affects the decision-making ability of a person resulting in long reaction time which leads to the accident. Drunk pedestrian also results in accidents as they are not aware of their surroundings and might walk in the middle of the road.

• Inadequate planning of Roads

In Stuart highway, a lot of accidents occur while avoiding and trying not to hit the animals on the road. This is due to the lack of animal passes on the highway. So proper planning needs to be done and animal passes should be constructed.

• Fire and Explosion hazards

When an accident occurs, leakage of petrol or diesel can create a fire or explosion resulting in serious injury to the passengers and all the surrounding people as well. The explosion can occur when someone smokes near the fuel station or the fuel tank of the vehicle. These hazards are categorized as extreme as there is less likely chance of anyone surviving the fire or explosion.

• Lack of use of Seatbelts and helmets

People tend to neglect the road safety rules and regulations by not wearing helmets and using seatbelts resulting in serious injury. Seatbelts help to prevent injury during accidents such as rollover of car, but many parents do not use the child restraints. I also have seen a lot of accidents where the driver of a motorbike who was wearing a helmet had survived whereas the passenger of the same bike unfortunately died. It is because of not using the helmet.

Natural factors such as rainfall, snowfall, humidity, fog results in accidents. During snowfall, there is chance of the tyre skidding and brakes not working as well.