A COST EFFECT MAJOR FOR PREVENTING TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS
Yoshimi Matsuo, Kiho Shin
NPO Treasures of The Planet,
Corresponding contact: Yoshimi Matsuo, info@treasuresoftheplanet.org
Background and aim: Due to the progression of the road infrastructure development in Laos, the volume of the traffic is rapidly increasing and causing the massive increase of night time traffic accidents in the area with no street lights or traffic signals. It is extremely dangerous for both drivers and pedestrians including farmers using tractor cart on the dark road and we strongly feel the necessity of traffic accident prevention majors in Laos. Mono-directional light reflecting tape reflects the light to the direction of incoming light from car and distributing this tape in sticker format is a cost effective and immediate solution for preventing collision of car and pedestrians on the dark road.
Our aim is to protect children and farmers from traffic accidents using this method and to provide educational information for preventing the traffic accidents to them.
We (NPO Treasures of The Planet) have distributed the light reflecting tapes in Kham Mark village located between Vientiane and Vang Vieng on 3/28/2015 and applied on 30 bicycles and 12 tractor carts in the village. We also have donated additional tapes and staple guns for further installation in the village.
Future activities: We will revisit the Kam Mhak village in the early 2016 to verify the effectiveness of the distributed reflection tapes and to distribute more tapes to be applied in the area with frequent the traffic accidents. Using acquired data from our activities in Kam Mhak village, we are planning to distribute the tapes to other villages having similar issues in 2016. We are seeking corporate sponsors to produce these tapes with sponsor’s logo to further reduce the cost.
