free movement in the Republic of Congo

INTRODUCTION

There is no doubt that among the rights and freedoms that the legal system recognizes, has that of free movement in the Republic of Congo. This cannot be considered only as a right of the person, but, in addition, it is necessary for the relationship life and economic development. People who live in Congo have the right to choose their residence and move through the national territory freely.

But the right to move has its limits. In the first place, the one of the property appears, and, as a consequence, the individual cannot cross the foreign property, and has to limit himself to the transit by the own one, or by the common elements. When these go from being the immense field to the road expressly destined for circulation, the problem is more complicated, since there are several users in it and the collision of rights can occur, thus forcing the State to dictate norms that regulate this circulation, allowing the peaceful use of the roads to all who pass through them. If total freedom were admitted, there would be no exercise of the law, but we would find ourselves with a true abuse of it.

The right of free movement is exercised on a physical element, which is the public thoroughfare.

The State has an obligation to promote the provision of material means for the fulfilment of social purposes, and thus the administration must develop its activity in a double aspect: technical and legal.

Technique: In the circulation, the material element is the path. The State must facilitate this material means so that the individual can exercise the right of free movement in the best possible security conditions.

Legal: Although the use of the road is free, this does not mean at any time that such use can be done in an anarchic way. It is then that the State carries out its second activity, the legal one, to regulate the way in which the citizen has to exercise his right to move on the roads. You can no longer travel anarchically, even with the slight and vague limit of not acting with abuse and without harming the rights of other users, but must do so subject to specific, specific rules that regulate how and in what way you can Exercise circulation activity.

The individual’s ability to come and go, exercised on a physical element, which is the public thoroughfare, is accompanied by another material element, which is the vehicle whose use is necessary to regulate.

It is no longer permitted to use a right-hand drive car on the Republic of Congo roads. But practically this power the safety of road users. The vehicle used must meet certain requirements; not even when, because the same citizens, to conduct it, must comply with certain procedures.

Thus, the existence of a series of legal norms tending to guarantee the safety of people and property is necessary.

PRINCIPLE OF DRIVING SAFETY

In the circulation, there is a fundamental and prevalent principle, which is that of driving safety. This principle requires the driver to concentrate his physical and psychic faculties to perceive the objects and to be the owner at all times of his activities, of the movement of the vehicle, in order to respond adequately to the different and changing incidents that traffic presents.

This principle has a subjective basis that mechanism that involves focusing attention on the task of driving in order always to maintain control of the vehicle to avoid harmful consequences for third parties.

Every driver must, therefore, take the necessary precautions according to the specific circumstances of the traffic to control the movements of the vehicle he drives and thus be able to avoid possible and foreseeable risks.

THE PRINCIPLE OF SIGNALING OR DIRECTED DRIVING

This principle is based on the fact that any obstacle or change in normal circulation must be signalled. This principle is closely linked to that of trust as long as there is no signalling that indicates an alteration of normality in traffic, the driver can circulate in the confidence that he can do so with the safety of

You won’t find any obstacles. In accordance with this principle, the driver is directed at all times by the existing road signs, and which serves to indicate the difficulties that will be encountered and to warn him of the possible dangers in order to adopt the most appropriate strategy for overcoming them without difficulty. In principle, the one who should conveniently signal the roads are the organizations that own them, and not only signal them but also maintain them properly and replace them if necessary.

On the other hand, if the driver is going to perform a manoeuvre that implies a variation of his position on the road, he must warn him with the corresponding signal to the other drivers and users. There are countless occasions when a driver has endangered other users, for not having properly signalled a manoeuvre or a danger. Undoubtedly, this obligation also concerns the administration of the roads, responsible for the maintenance, conservation and signalling of the same, which is required to signal obstacles or hazards of any kind that affect the road and its route, so that the exercise of the right to freedom of movement through the means that the State makes available to users can be done with the necessary security guarantees. Likewise, this obligation also concerns companies that carry out works on the roads, which must be properly marked.

THE PRINCIPLE OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY OR ACCEPTANCE OF FORCE MAJEURE

According to this principle, also called personal security, no one is obliged to sacrifice his life or compromise his bodily integrity when performing a lawful act, in which he employs the normal diligence that his activity requires.

This principle must be taken into account in those cases where the driver has had no choice but to act in a certain way or, in avoidance of a greater evil, has caused other damage as a result of an evasive manoeuvre, provided that, as is logical, the initial danger situation is of such a nature that, in effect, it requires the action taken and has not been caused by the driver himself.

It can also be accepted as force majeure, those circumstances of traffic or any other that prevent normal development of the same, provided security prevails over fluency.

TRAFFIC INFORMING PRINCIPLES OR PURPOSES OF ROAD SAFETY

The principles discussed above must be weighed exquisitely to be able to prosecute the activity of the partners in the circulation, taking into account, in a special way, the aims that are intended to be obtained from an orderly circulation, among which we could be:

• Security
• Fluency
• The comfort
• Efficient driving
• Sustainability

All these informative principles are essential for safe circulation.

SAFETY

To achieve this, it is true that the Administration must act trying to get better roads and better vehicles and prevent accidents from occurring as far as possible.

For this, it establishes the norms that it considers most appropriate and intervenes in all those aspects that it considers convenient for the circulation to be carried out with the maximum possible security. But these measures will not be enough if drivers are not instilled:

• Thorough knowledge of the rules and signals regulating traffic, especially those that have a greater impact on safety (adequate speed, overtaking, preferences, etc., and the rules that allow the most appropriate handling and use of the vehicle.
• An awareness of the proper maintenance of your vehicle and respect and compliance with the rules that regulate periodic technical inspections.
• An adaptation of its driving to the characteristics of the roads through which it circulates, to ensure that it is capable of maintaining safe behaviour even in unfavourable circumstances, whether they come from its poor layout or conservation or from adverse weather or environmental conditions.

THE FLUIDITY

Getting traffic is fluid, that is, that vehicles are travelling at a sufficient speed, requires the use of vehicles and roads that allow developing that speed safely, so it is necessary to establish rules aimed at achieving this end to reconcile the fluency with the maximum possible security. This principle demands speed, speed, but would fall into the absolute chaos without the presence of security.

To achieve this goal, drivers must have well instilled:

• Thorough knowledge of the rules and signals aimed at regulating the best use of the road (position on the road, lane use, lane discipline, speed adapted to traffic circumstances, etc.)
• An awareness and knowledge of the type and characteristics of the vehicle they drive and the need to collaborate with other users, allowing and facilitating the passage of other faster vehicles.
• Spirit of collaboration that allows the enjoyment of the road by all users. The roads are made for everyone, and everyone has the right to use them, so that, if possible, incorporation int the conviction that the right of preference is not absolute, in addition to that of courtesy, which implies respectful, restrained and considerate behaviour for others and demands not to respond to provocations beyond others with equally inconsiderate behaviours.
• It is necessary to make the route, as previously indicated, a place of coexistence and collaboration among all its users; collaboration and coexistence that imply, among other attitudes, on the one hand, not to disturb, and, on the other, to understand.
• The driver, the user of the roads, in short, must be aware that he should not disturb, that he has to respect to be respected.
• In driving, a great capacity to understand others is also necessary. This requires understanding and excusing the mistakes of others, without getting irritated or let go of bad temper. The mistakes of others cannot serve to justify their own, which must be avoided by concentrating on driving, or to adopt aggressive behaviour that can be of dire consequences.

THE COMFORT

Safe and fluid traffic is, in principle, comfortable traffic. Therefore, comfort can be increased by improving the vehicles to be used, the routes by which they travel, and increasing the preparation and training of drivers.

Regardless of the influence that the roads or vehicles have on this concept, drivers must take into account:

• Proper handling of vehicle controls that allows smooth and even driving.
• The proper position with respect to controls, seat adjustment, seating, hand and foot placement, etc.

EFFICIENT DRIVING

The imperative need to save fuel, because it is a scarce, inexpensive and expensive asset, imposes the establishment of norms and measures aimed at achieving this end. The training of drivers can also influence this aspect, acquiring the necessary knowledge and the correct driving technique to avoid, for example, greater air resistance, unnecessary accelerations, etc.

THE SUSTAINABILITY

Avoiding pollution, ecological damage is a more urgent need every day, the achievement of which not only depends on the Administration, since it is the human being who is the main one involved.

The destruction of the environment in which one lives entails the disappearance of flora and fauna, which can endanger the life of the human species, so that adequate knowledge of all this, and corrective action will contribute to an important improvement of the quality of life. This requires drivers to keep in mind the maintenance of the vehicle, especially its essential organs, to stop the engine in prolonged detentions, etc.

ROAD SAFETY: CONCEPT

Everyone knows the importance and importance of the automobile in all orders of human life; either because of the sense of freedom that it confers, or as an indispensable complement to its vital circumstance, by conditioning the way of life (work, autonomy, recreation, relationships, etc.), the social, economic, trade order, and ultimately of progress; But with all this, it also has its negative aspect, accidents.

The motor vehicle, as a conquest of our civilization, has two faces: on the one hand the positive: all the conquests that motorization represents; on the other, the negative: traffic accidents as a tragic tribute to the freedom and progress that modern technical society carries with it. In this sense, one could say that the car is an instrument of suffering and pain.

Traffic, as a transit of people, animals and vehicles on public roads, as a dynamic system composed of the vehicle, the road and its surroundings and the human being, always implies a risk. There are no zero risks in the traffic system, and there is always a certain accepted risk, a lawful risk that every society allows and accepts. However, one thing is that this risk remains within reasonable and acceptable limits and a very different one that exceeds the limits incompatible with road safety and, worse, that society continues to accept it with uncritical indifference and resignation.

If traffic arises from the interaction of the three factors or elements, that is, a person at the controls of a vehicle on the road, there is no doubt that the traffic accident occurs as a result of the lack of harmony between the three elements or factors or between two of them.

Road safety could be defined or expressed with the words “no accident production”. But, thus expressed, this definition is utopian since there is always the possibility of an accident and more if you take into account that among the elements involved in traffic is the human being, on which the capacity falls to decide and with it the one to be mistaken, and to which, in the last instance, its freedom and power of action cannot be limited. In other words, road safety will never be a reality of absolute values since traffic accidents will always exist. To which it is possible to aspire, and this is a right of the citizens and a duty of all the Public Administrations (Central, Autonomous, Provincial, Local), is that the accidents diminish and that their consequences are the least harmful to the individual and for society.

Most accidents are avoidable and, therefore, one of the most dangerous and false topics is to consider, without more, that traffic accidents constitute the inexorable tribute that contemporary society has to pay as a counterpart to the advantages that for it They derive from their massive automobile mechanization. However, it is no less true that, in a certain proportion, such accidents occur and will continue to occur.

On the one hand, you have to count on the real accidents, that is, those that truly constitute fortuitous cases, which certainly exist, and on the other, you cannot ignore the fact that the human being, being fallible, or the system, never perfect they will sometimes fail, accidents occurring as a result of those errors.

The solution to the problem of accidents or ultimate goal is total road safety, but total safety is a utopia. However, that is why the government of DCR do not give up their attempt, although they are realistic and seek to achieve intermediate goals, optimal or reasonable and proportional road safety that is perfectly assumed by society. In other words, the previous definition should be analyzed, trying to express it through the following equation: optimal road safety = fewer traffic accidents and less possible consequences than those that occur.

The road safety thus outlined implies, in itself, the idea of ​​a certain risk and to be honest, of a certain risk. But if the level reached is optimal, that risk will be a reasonable and proportionate risk that society will have to assume serenely, although carrying out, skills, at the same time, a persevering and lucid effort to reach increasingly higher levels of road safety.

In this way, and based on a realistic concept that allows to adapt to each moment, road safety can be defined as the achievement of a driver with sufficient knowledge and skills who, inadequate physical and psychic state, drives a vehicle designed and conserved correctly for some itineraries duly planned, maintained and signalled in a social environment aware of the problem and collaborator in finding the most appropriate solutions.

TRAFFIC AND ROAD SAFETY

1. CONCEPT OF TRAFFIC.

From a physical point of view, traffic can be defined as “the movement of animals and vehicles through roads, streets and roads” and from a legal point of view we could define it as “the transit of people, animals and vehicles through public roads and public use, with no other limitations than those established in the legislation on traffic, motor vehicle traffic and road safety “.

2. FACTORS INTERVENING.

From the definition itself, it can be extracted that there are three factors that influence traffic and are the road, the vehicle and the human factor.

ROUTE

The road, as it is the scenario where traffic is carried out, constitutes the most fixed or perennial material element, since its construction, renovation, maintenance and conservation requires long periods of time and strong investments. This characteristic has been the cause of the main problem that road networks pose to modern traffic: the disproportion of their conditions with respect to the technical progress suffered by vehicles, proving insufficient, if not dangerous, for modern traffic.

The solution to this problem requires, together with the necessary economic investments, an exact forecast of the volume and nature of current and future traffic, as well as a technical planning for the construction of new roads and the conditioning works of the current ones, planning that includes the determination of paths, longitudinal and transverse profiles, intersections, road widths, foundations, pavement types, signage, etc.

THE VEHICLE.

The vehicle, as it constitutes one of the means that the human being uses to use the road, is characterized by two clearly defined aspects: its increasing increase and its early ageing. These facets explain the cause of the two problems that, in turn, involve vehicles within today’s general traffic problem:

First, the increase in its number, variety and technical characteristics has exceeded the capacity of the roads and affected person safety.

Secondly, the circulation of aged and technically deficient vehicles has also jeopardized traffic safety.

The remedy of these problems requires the adoption of measures of a typical police nature, such as the limitation of weights and dimensions, the regulation of the technical conditions that must be met for their circulation, the periodic and extraordinary technical inspections, etc.

The human factor

If the road is the scenario where traffic is carried out and the vehicle the means to use it, the human factor, whether driver, pedestrian or passenger, is the protagonist. Ultimately, traffic safety depends on its behaviour.

The driver’s behaviour is the result of the interaction of the complex road system, composed of variables or circumstances of very different origin. In short, it is the individual response to a series of external requirements and conditions; that is, we can talk about an internal or individual component and an external component.

The internal or individual component includes many aspects that determine the driver’s response: perception, attention, emotion, experience, feelings, motivations, attitudes, etc. The external component is related to environmental conditions, not only physical (infrastructure or vehicle), but also social and cultural.

3. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES THAT RULES THE CIRCULATION.

Traffic, traffic, is governed by rules contained in the Road Safety Law and the General Traffic Regulations. It is very difficult to highlight which of these norms have a fundamental character and serve as defining elements of traffic, and, ultimately, those that give driving safety.

Since in said Law and Regulation, there are no general precepts related to the fundamental principles of traffic, it is necessary to establish some bases that serve as a guiding element of the circulation.

In the Law and the Regulations, the general principles appear diversified, there being no general norm comprehensive of each and every one of the elements involved in the circulation complex. There are rules for drivers, for cyclists, for pedestrians, etc. All these dispersed norms only intuit the problem, but, in reality, they do not define which are the principles that must regulate the traffic.

Fundamental Principles:

• The principle of responsibility.
• The principle of confidence in normalcy.
• The principle of defence security also called defensive driving.
• The principle of driving safety.
• The principle of signalling or directed driving.
• The principle of personal integrity or acceptance

appropriate behaviour at all times, assuming the consequences of their own acts. This principle is included in articles 2 and 3 of the General Traffic Regulations.

Principle of confidence in the normality of traffic.

In accordance with this principle, also called adequate expectation, any participant in the road traffic that is behaved by regulation has the right to expect, in legitimate expectation, that other road users, whether they are drivers of vehicles or pedestrians, will make appropriate use of the same and will comply with the rules that regulate the movement through it

In a broad sense, it can be said that this principle follows from the provisions of articles 2 and 3 of the General Traffic Regulations. According to the first one, “road users are obliged to behave in a way that does not unduly impede traffic”; according to the second, “the necessary diligence and precaution must be taken to avoid any damage, own or others, taking care not to endanger the same driver as the other occupants of the vehicle and the rest of the road users “.

Every driver needs to circulate with the relative certainty of knowing that other users will respect the rules established for traffic. Knowing what others are going to do and how they are going to do it will give you enough peace of mind, to anticipate and prevent more or less dangerous situations and act appropriately in each case to avoid them.

The principle of confidence in the normality of traffic is based, therefore, on strict compliance, by all users, of the rules governing traffic.

However, this presumption should, in no case imply a decrease in vigilance, and trust will give in to any indication of inappropriate behaviour by other road users.

The principle of confidence or expectation that others comply with what they are obliged to, in compliance with the provisions of the regulations governing circulation, is therefore subordinated to that of security or defence, according to which all The driver must anticipate the possible defective behaviour of others.

PRINCIPLE OF DEFENSE SAFETY OR DEFENSIVE DRIVING

This principle is manifested when the abnormal reaction of certain subjects or their sudden and unthinkable change in attitude can be foreseeable, which is why it is considered probable that they will act in a manner contrary to the rules that regulate circulation.

The principle of trust must, therefore, take precedence over the principle of defence safety or defensive driving, according to which one must not trust unlimitedly that other road users will observe the rules and precautions.

The principle of defence security or defensive security forces the driver to anticipate and avoid, as far as possible, the faulty behaviours of other users to avoid damage. It obliges to drive (when the specific circumstances so require) defensively, that is, counting on the eventual imprudence of the other partners in the traffic, especially when a user acts contrary to the traffic regulations or when we encounter vulnerable users who they can produce risk situations that must be foreseen and, in any case, which, when they occur, impose the execution of manoeuvres ordinarily not enforceable.

This is the norm of essential prudence of the circulation. It is the basis of defensive driving. It is the complement of the principle of trust. If, on the one hand, the driver is protected by the principle of confidence in the normality of traffic, it must be combined with that of defence safety that, inspired by healthy defensive driving criteria, obliges, provided they are not unpredictable, to anticipate the anomalous behaviours of others through their own caution, if with it they can be neutralized.

Therefore, as indicated above, the principle of defence security is the complement of the principle of trust, that is, this principle of trust is not applicable when the circumstances of the traffic suggest, rationally, that there can be no trust in the normal way to get around the traffic. The principle of trust and that of defence security are, as if we were saying, two sides of the same coin: on the one hand, we must expect others to abide by and comply with the rules; on the other, we must anticipate the possible failures and incorrect behaviour of others.

References

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-congo-democratic-cars/congo-angers-easterners-with-right-hand-drive-ban-idUKL0382651320070703

https://www.definitions.net/definition/traffic

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