Road Design Must Anticipate Human Error, Says UI Professor

Permanent Professor in the Field of Transportation Safety, Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia (UI) Prof. Martha Leni Siregar. ANTARA/HO-UI Public Relations

DEPOK - The Permanent Professor in the Field of Transportation Safety, Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia (UI) Prof. Martha Leni Siregar encourages road design based on human ability limits.

"The higher the speed of the vehicle, the greater the risk of death. Therefore, transportation systems must be designed taking into account the limits of the human body's ability when there is a collision," said Prof. Martha in his statement in Depok, West Java, Saturday, February 14, quoting ANTARA.

According to him, speed regulation and control are very important in this system. Accident handling must be proactive (preventive) not just after the incident (reactive).

He said this prevention effort was carried out through safe speed settings to ensure that if there was an accident, there were no casualties.

Here, he continued, the importance of proper road design is to keep vehicles traveling within speed limits that are still safe for humans.

"In Indonesia, the big challenge comes from the many types of vehicles and the difference in speed between vehicles. This diverse traffic condition makes the risk of accidents higher. Therefore, a comprehensive system is needed to regulate the speed difference," said Prof. Martha.

He explained that in the Safety System approach, humans can make mistakes.

For this reason, he continued, the transportation system must be designed to be able to anticipate mistakes, not just blame road users. The question is no longer who is wrong, he said, but why the existing system allows collisions that are too hard to exceed the limits of human ability. "We must fundamentally shift the paradigm of safety towards an approach that is oriented towards the prevention of fatal injuries," said Prof. Martha.

He emphasized that safe speed must be placed as a core principle in the planning, design, and management of transportation systems.

Transportation safety, he said, must be seen as a product of the transportation system, so that all efforts to reduce accidents are carried out within the framework of a proactive Safety System to lead to zero fatalities.