Letter to the Editor - Essay Example

SOLUTIONS TO ROAD ACCIDENTS CARNAGE IN LAWRENCE of Dear Editor, RE: Reducing Road Accidents in Lawrence, Kansas On 2nd March 2014, it was reported in the cjonline.com that seven people had died in five different fatal accidents across Kansas. One of the accidents occurred when one of the involved cars failed to stop at the US-56 intersection. Moreover, the driver of one of the cars, according to the periodical was not wearing safety belts. In another of the seven accidents, one passenger was ejected from the car and landed out, dying on impact.

She was also not wearing a seatbelt. Several other accidents have happened over the previous months in the past one year, including some cases in Lawrence, a city in Kansas (cjonline.com, 2014). I am therefore writing this in the expression of my concern about the increased road accidents due to careless driving in Lawrence area. From the accident mentioned, the Kansas highway patrol reports have indicated that there are several state laws on road safety that are severely violated. In most cases, drivers choose to ignore these rules.

It has been proved that that just 70% of drivers on the road belt up as opposed to the required 100%. In case of an accident, it is hazardous, and it has been established that the highest number of deaths occur to those that fail to belt up as opposed to those that belt up.The driving for that matter has been careless. There have been reports of over-speeding in which drivers go beyond the required speed. This has led to many drivers losing control and knocking over pedestrians on the road pavements.

Apart from overspending, the other problem as has been established is that the drivers and the passengers hardly belt up. A high number of accidents caused by impact lead to deaths because of the drivers and passengers failed to belt up. Disregarding the traffic rules and road signs is a deliberate act that causes accidents. Consider the March 2nd, 2014 accident in which a driver along Douglas County Road 1061 failed to stop at the US-56 intersection. The vehicle ended up being hit by a GMC Denali XL sports car, and the two ended up landing in a ditch with one vehicle landing on top of the other.

Hospital reports have indicated that there are some drivers that drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol in complete contravention of the Kansas traffic laws.There are several solutions that need to be implemented to curb this reckless loss of lives on the roads. The first solution is that the highway patrol police need to implement laws on driving as well spelt out in Kansas Statutes Chapter 8 Article 10. In this, no driver is supposed to take the driver’s seat under the influence of drugs or other intoxicating drugs.

This can be made at as many intersections as possible. Secondly, there is supposed to be implementations of laws on U-turns on the roads. The turns end up confusing other road users leading to there being confusion to the other drivers. Many vehicles have collided in this case. U-turns need to be limited as much as possible. The other issue is that the aspect of running the red light is ignored especially at intersections. Stiffer penalties need to be meted on drivers that do not obey the red light sign.

Many accidents have occurred in this case. The other critical solution is the use of safety belts. There are useful rules for use of safety belts for child passengers and the adults. If all these are adhered to, then there will be the least number of accidents. The last solution is that on over speeding (Kansas Traffic Department, 2015). The Kansas road statutes have openly indicated the maximum speed rates for all cars on the road. If the highway police implement this, then there will be no accidents due to over speeding.

Reference cjonline.com. (2014, March 2). 7 die in 5 fatality accidents Saturday in Kansas, Unclear if weather played a factor in accidents. cjonline, p. 11.Department, K. T. (2015). Kansas Traffic Laws. Kansas: Thomson Reuters .