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Eliminating serious injury and death from road transport : a crisis of complacency
\"The book explodes the myths that currently drive society's view of traffic safety and limit progress in reducing death and serious injury. It presents current scientific knowledge in a non-technical way and draws parallels with other areas of public safety and public health. It uses examples from the media and from public policy debates to paint a clear picture of a flawed public policy approach and offers preventive medicine principles to take the field forward\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Eliminating Serious Injury and Death from Road Transport
The book explodes the myths that currently drive society's view of traffic safety and limit progress in reducing death and serious injury. It presents current scientific knowledge in a non-technical way and draws parallels with other areas of public safety and public health.
eBook
The Way We View Safety Is a Big Part of the Problem
The 2009 World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Status Report on Road Safety
estimated that more than 1.2 million people die each year on the world’s roads, and
that between 20 and 50 million suffer nonfatal injuries.17 It also estimated that
more than 90% of the world’s fatalities resulting from road crashes occur in lowincome and middle-income countries, which have only 48% of the world’s registered
motor vehicles. Of immense concern is the fact that these countries are now rapidly
motorising and the death and disabling injury totals will increase dramatically over
the next couple of decades unless radical change occurs.
Book Chapter
Evolution of Safe System Thinking
Very few of us stop to consider the basic characteristics of our road transport system.
When we visit low-income countries we note with a wry smile that motorcycle helmet and seat belt use are rare, that walking on the road is common, and that when
sidewalks do exist, they tend be filled with traders and their goods. These are things
we, in motorised societies, no longer tolerate, but we do tolerate, unquestioningly,
seriously unsafe designs, even though they are within our understanding and in front
of our eyes every day. We tolerate and blithely accept them because we have grown
up with them and we believe that we are totally in control of our own destiny on the
roads, and that serious crashes only happen to unskilled or reckless others.
Book Chapter
Confronting Complacency
In Chapter 1, we stated: “It is impossible to escape the conclusion that we have the
level of trauma that we, as motorised societies, are comfortable with” and that we
were going to try to “understand why complacency rules.”
Book Chapter
Eliminating Serious Injury and Death from Road Transport Is Not a Pipe Dream
Every one of us uses the roads every day, most of us several times a day. We walk,
cycle, and drive as part of our daily lives; this is how we “get around” in order to
do all the things we want to do. Roads, and the vehicles they service, are also the
dominant means by which the vast majority of the goods we consume, and almost
all of the services we use, move from farm, port, factory, or business to warehouse,
tradesman’s premise, service centre, or retail outlet to our homes. Road use is such
a fundamental part of our lives that we take it for granted. A modern, efficient road
and road transport system is unquestionably critical to our standard of living. Not
surprisingly, though, given the staggering volume of road use and the ever-present
opportunity for something to go wrong, crashes are also commonplace daily events.
Book Chapter
Six Vital Steps toward Zero
Each E was largely the province of one set of players among the myriad institutions whose portfolios impacted on safety outcomes. Over time, sets of players
coordinated their efforts in a cooperative manner, sometimes to great effect. For
example, random breath testing in Australia required intense police resources and
intruded upon innocent drivers, both of which only became publicly acceptable
because of intense public education justifying the program to the community and
creating a climate of support.174 Similarly, research into the effectiveness of specific
measures under each E has proceeded apace and significant advances have been
made; for example, decades of research into a range of enforcement strategies to curb
drunk driving have resulted in clear guidelines for effective enforcement practice.134
Book Chapter
Approaching Traffic Safety as Preventive Medicine
In Western society, the major public health challenges of the twenty-first century will
be dominated by lifestyle-related threats: obesity, abuse of alcohol and drugs, and
trauma resulting from the way we use the roads.52,140 Compounding this there is a
growing culture of immediacy that pervades all aspects of our lives; everything has to
be fast, now, and personally gratifying-interpersonal communication (cell phones,
social media), modes of doing business (Internet marketing, online sales), IT processing speeds, minimum personal journey times, and so on.141 Reconciling the demands
for immediacy with safe road use and resolving the disconnect between the perception
that driving behaviour is a matter of personal choice and the reality of interdependent
social behaviour both require fundamental culture change at the whole-of-society
level. How we might set about achieving such lasting change is the theme of this book.
Book Chapter
Serious Crashes Have Impacts Way Beyond Those Injured
We have, in the preceding chapters, painted a picture of where we are, how we got
there, and where we might aim to go. As a motivator for action, we put a human face
on serious injury in Chapter 2. Before turning to how we might start the new journey,
we add a further dimension to the human face of trauma.
Book Chapter
Serious Crashes Happen to Real People
The specific crashes that we see, hear, or read about in the media are those judged
newsworthy-those with the most tragic outcomes and those involving culpable,
reprehensible behaviour, especially if they involve a group of teenagers. Newsworthy
typically means crashes that conform with our stereotype of fault on the part of one
or more of those involved, and we later explore in some detail how this stereotype
evolved and the powerful influence it has had on traffic safety policy and practice,
and how it helps explain why complacency rules.
Book Chapter