The combination of a dramatic increase in the number of vehicles and more drivers with minimal experience was bound to lead to increased danger on the roads and chaotic traffic conditions in big cities such as Yangon. And it did.
Recent road safety statistics are alarming. Figures provided by the Myanmar Police Force and the Health Department to the World Health Organisation for its third global report on road safety show that 13,907 accidents were reported in 2013. They claimed 3,612 lives and left more than 100,000 injured. Road accidents cause ten deaths a day in Myanmar and fatalities are rising.
The WHO report shows that the death rate for every 100,000 people has risen from 2.5 in 2006 to 7.6 in 2013, the latest year for which figures are available.
Professor Thit Lwin, who heads the Orthopaedics Department at the University of Medicine in Yangon, has firsthand experience with the grim reality behind the statistics. "Sixty per cent of the patients in my ward are patients with trauma resulting from road accidents," he said.
When the country was under military rule, the Ministry of Health discouraged civilians from become involved in road safety issues on the grounds that they were regarded as the domain of the police.
That has changed, said Professor Thit Lwin. "We are directly dealing with victims of road crashes. We know the impact of that. So we give information to the authorised persons."
A factor contributing to the high death and injury rate is a reluctance to provide assistance to the injured within the first 60 minutes after an accident, a period known as the "golden hour" when those with basic first aid knowledge can save a life.
Roy Ben Eliezer, founder and managing director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Road Safety, which promotes road safety in such countries as Myanmar, Cambodia,Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, said he finds it "disturbing" that most Myanmar people are afraid to "reach out and assist" victims of traffic accidents.
"They do not know how to tackle this [traffic accidents] because of lack of training or experience," Mr Ben Eliezer said.
"This is something that has to be improved," he said. "We need to improve trauma services to save more people. A smooth dispatch after an incident is also important. After an incident has been reported a team should arrive shortly, stabilise the patient and take them to a facility."
Professor Thit Lwin agrees. "We still don't have an ambulance law, although the law has been drafted."
What are the main causes for road accidents? Three factors are at play, said Mr Ben Eliezer. "The three components are: the human factor, infrastructure and vehicle. More and more safety systems are incorporated in the vehicle industry. Infrastructure is being developed in Myanmar and throughout the world as well. We are left with the human factor. Research shows that 80 to 95 percent of road traffic accidents are due to human error."
Driver education is also critical.
Mr Ben Eliezer said making prospective drivers in Myanmar pass a mandatory written test on safe driving theory before they undertake a road test could be a viable option for improving skills and awareness.
"We need to focus on these human factor components, when we try to reach out to different platforms to educate on road safety," he said.
The Injury Prevention Project, a road safety education project run by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation, wants to start road safety education early.
The project has had international road safety literature translated into Myanmar and ethnic languages for use in Myanmar schools. Prof Thit Lwin, the project's program manager, said he hopes the literature, which includes illustrated books for children, will be included in the curriculum at government schools.
Integrating road safety in school curriculum and in specific university courses in areas such as health sciences had been raised in parliament, he said, but it was unclear when the process would begin.
The Injury Prevention Project's activities include an annual day of remembrance for road accident victims, last held on November 17 at Yangon's University of Nursing. Among those at last year's event were the families of those killed in road accidents and the survivors of crashes, many of whom live with disabilities. Regional and state level officials addressed the ceremony and called for "increased awareness" about the need for road safety.
"The public needs to be involved in road safety and empowered – not only government departments," Prof Thit Lwin said.
Police Major Than Myint from the Yangon Region Traffic Police Force supported Prof Thit Lwin's call for road safety education to start early.
"We need to start with educating children [about road safety]," Pol Maj Than Myint said. "The public doesn't follow traffic regulations and laws – how do we change that?"
Prof Thit Lwin also said there needed to be greater priority placed on enforcing traffic laws.
The inadequate enforcement of road safety laws and low traffic fines was a factor in poor driving, Prof Thit Lwin said.
"The punishment and penalty [for breaking traffic laws] is a very small amount of money, so no one cares about it," he said. "Also, now if you break the law, you just get a warning but there is no record on your licence."
Prof Thit Lwin said issuing more tickets for traffic law breaches, making greater use of on-the-spot fines and establishing a demerit system, under which drivers would have their licences suspended if they exceeded a predetermined number of points, would help to improve driver behaviour. "But pedestrians and street vendors play a part, too. This is not just about drivers."
Street vendors often blocked footpaths, forcing pedestrians to walk on roads. "This needs to be controlled," said Professor Thit Lwin.
The barriers to comprehensive traffic law enforcement include the limited manpower of the Myanmar Traffic Police Force, the professor said.
The traffic police force is badly understaffed, says the Asian Development Bank, which supports a road safety program in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"In Myanmar we have only about 50 percent traffic police strength," said Professor Thit Lwin. "We need more strength to enforce the law."
Another big barrier is the outdated 1964 Motor Vehicle Law, which was amended in 1989. The law, drafted by the Ministry of Rail Transportation and its Department of Road Transportation Administration, lacks regulations banning mobile phone use while driving or making safety restraints compulsory for young children.
Prof Thit Lwin is also a member of the Traffic Rule Enforcement Supervisory Committee a group of government officials and non-government road safety experts formed in 1989, with offices in Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon and Mandalay.
He said Myanmar needs to establish a national road safety council to benefit from membership in international bodies such as the Global Road Safety Partnership.
"The Traffic Rule Enforcement Supervisory Committee is just a committee, but doesn't have authority or a budget allotment from the government," he said. "We are urging the government to form a national road safety council."
Progress is slow, Prof Thit Lwin said. A proposal for the council, which would be headed by the Ministry of Rail Transportation and would include such ministries as those of Health, Home Affairs, Education and Construction, was submitted to parliament earlier this year by the Myanmar Police Force. Prof Thit Lwin said he does not know if or when the council would be established.
Among the arguments for increased road safety is the huge cost on the economy and in human terms.
"Together with the Asian Development Bank we calculated in 2004 that the cost of road crashes was about 94 billion kyats, or three per cent of Myanmar's GDP," said Professor Thit Lwin.
Data provided to the WHO for its global road safety report suggests that the cost to the economy has since declined to 0.54 percent of GDP, with a possible reason for the fall being strong economic growth since Myanmar's opening.
Professor Thit Lwin said the numbers are a clear indication of the need to prioritise road safety. "Reducing the number of accidents will reduce the cost. It is a national investment," he said.
Mr Ben Eliezer said while international development agencies in Myanmar were focussing attention on such health issues as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria and mother and child care, a traffic accident "epidemic" was unfolding.
"We need to look at it and understand we have a traffic accident epidemic on our hands," he said.
"Many people are being killed or injured. I urge donors to revise their agendas and give some thought to road safety capacity building. This is not an expense, it is an investment."
This Article first appeared in the August 28, 2014 edition of Mizzima Business Weekly.
Mizzima Business Weekly is available in print in Yangon through Innwa Bookstore and through online subscription at www.mzineplus.com
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/seeking-solutions-for-myanmars-traffic-accident-epidemic/
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