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Tag Archives: transport safety
On recent airline incidents in Japan and the US
There were two recent incidents involving airlines the past days. One was on a collision as a Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 jet arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The other was a midair incident where an Alaskan Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane lost part of its fuselage. While both are troubling, the first incident provided a good example of how emergency evacuations should be. The second incident reminds us of the importance of aircraft maintenance and tests to make sure planes are safe for use by passengers.
To quote from a New York Times article on the Haneda Airport incident:
“In addition to a well-trained crew and an advanced plane, the safe evacuation of 367 passengers came down to a relative absence of panic.”
I think that basically described “how to survive a plane crash” in the context of the collision at the airport, where passengers and crew had to evacuate the plane immediately.
Meanwhile, the B737 Max crash is a cause of concern since the model was already involved in previous crashes that caused the planes to be grounded worldwide. There will be an investigation on this incident and perhaps the outcomes can help address the problems concerning the aircraft. On the business side, such incidents will further convince airliners to reconsider acquisition and operations of these planes. I am sure they are already thinking about replacing the B737’s with the competition’s aircraft (e.g., A319, A320 or A321).
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COVID-19 Infection Risk Assessment of Transport Modes
I posted about the work we have been doing to assess the infection risk (i.e., spread of COVID-19) for various modes of transport considering the transition of many areas including the National Capital Region (NCR) to the General Community Quarantine (GCQ). The work was undertaken through the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP), which is under the umbrella of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS). Here is the outcome in the form of an “Infection Risk Classification of Transport Modes or Vehicle Types” developed by a core group of public transportation and road safety specialists among its members:
Note again that this is the product of a rapid assessment using the mentioned criteria and factors. It is a qualitative assessment and a quantitative one, given the data, would obviously been preferred. Moreover, this is an assessment for risk of infection rather than for road safety. In the “old normal”, for example, cycling and motorcycle use may have a higher risk in traffic given traffic mix, human behavior and lack of facilities to make these modes safe.
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Transport safety during the holidays
I was having a late morning haircut when I overheard from the TV news reports of many road crashes occurring over the last 3 days including Christmas Day. One incident involved a jeepney that apparently veered away from its lane and crashed head-on to a provincial bus. It was ironic that the passengers of the jeepney were bound for the town of Manaoag in Pangasinan province, likely to give thanks for blessings they received in 2017 and pay homage to the Blessed Virgin whose image in Manaoag is regarded as miraculous. Not reported were the many other crashes that probably occurred all over the country over the same period but were considered minor incidents as no one perished and likely only involved property damage.
There was also an incident a few days ago involving a ferry traveling between Infanta, Quezon and Polilio Island.The ferry was carrying 251 passengers, of whom at least 5 reportedly perished. The incident again raised old but lingering issues on maritime safety including those pertaining to seaworthiness of vessels especially those plying the regular, frequent routes connecting the many islands in the country.
A lot of people travel during this season in the Philippines. Many travel to their hometowns for the typical homecomings, reunions people have during Christmas and New Year. Most trips are on the road (the mode share is dominant even considering the popularity of air travel and the sizeable number of trips on maritime transport) and the combination of road conditions, driver behaviour and other factors often lead to situations that may result in road crashes. We cannot overemphasise the importance of taking extra care when we travel, whether as a driver, a passenger or even a pedestrian walking along the road. A friend who is also an official of the transport department once gave passengers of buses advice to tell their drivers to slow down and drive more safely if and when they feel they are driving recklessly. You don’t lose lives by slowing down and driving more carefully (probably with the exception of drivers of emergency vehicles like ambulances), and this applies, too, to passengers of private vehicles who need to tell their drivers (likely relatives) to slow down or drive more safely. One does not want some joyride transform almost immediately into a nightmare much less a last trip for everyone.
Keep safe everyone!
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Caught (up) in traffic 