Traffic safety science: research agenda for the way forward

Today, half the world, primarily the low- and middle-income countries, is grappling with the increasing burden of traffic crashes, while the other half seems to have succeeded in arresting them. Road traffic injuries are predictable and preventable. Despite the growing burden of RTIs globally, multiple intervention strategies and projects have contributed to a significant reduction in the burden of road traffic injuries in many high-income countries (Auerbach-Hafen et al., 2007). Elvik (2017) discusses how efforts have gone into making cars safer and has helped establish the fact that a science-based approach can lead to large improvements in road safety. Elvik further notes that, ‘the development of road design and traffic control is stark. Although it is probably correct to attribute part of the improvement in road safety in many OECD countries after about 1970, to improvements of roads and traffic control devices (Elvik, Kolbenstvedt, Elvebakk, Hervik, & Bræin, 2009; Evans, 2004), these developments have not been instigated by research to the same extent as recent developments in vehicle safety.’ In view of this, I would like to draw the attention of researchers and readers of this journal to the complexities involved in safety science. The research community is required to invest more efforts in creating evidence to understand the impact of various strategies which often can lead to counterintuitive results. This requires defending the science-based results on the one hand, and formulating strategies to convince the policy-makers of the uncertainties created by counterintuitive outcomes, on the other hand. This volume presents a mix of research articles addressing the issue of road users’ perceptions, road design, built environment features and the impact of enforcement.

The study by Sarah A. Richmond et al., from Canada based on a quasi-experimental design used to compare the rates of single- and two-vehicle collisions before and after the installation of pedestrian countdown signals in Toronto. This study shows that such a move has unintended consequences like an increase in motor vehicle collisions and as such, caution is advised while considering such an installation in an urban setting.

Chinara Orsi et al. from Europe have made a submission on road accidents involving bicycles. In Europe, cyclists make up 8% of road fatalities. There are, of course, vast differences in the number of such fatalities between the various countries of the EU: Denmark 17% and the Netherlands 24%. Despite several decades of efforts in making the roads safe for bicyclists in Europe, the authors note that the modern traffic system on the road is designed for car use; therefore, cyclists, pedestrians and even motorised two wheelers must suffer the consequences of this lop-sided development. This particular essay is based on data from Germany.

From Guwahati in India, Mallikarjuna Chunchu et al. have made a presentation on speed-profile-based road segmentation for accident occurrence modelling for hilly terrains. In hilly terrains, road segmentation makes for very small sections. Since speed profile depends on both, road geometry as well as the road side environment, a new methodology was devised that made a comparative analysis of the constant length segmentation approach, and the new method produced statistically better results.

Richard Amoh-Gyimah et al. from Ghana have studied the effects of natural and built environments on pedestrian–vehicle crash severity. These finding indicate pedestrian–vehicle crashes in Ghana account for the highest percentage of fatalities. This essay is based on a data-set obtained from the Building and Road Research Institute. Several factors are likely contributors to such crashes: bad weather, bad lighting at night, weekends, curved, untarred and sloping roads, etc.; corrections in these factors could increase the safety.

Mehdi FallaTafti et al. from Iran have sent in a study of the development of crash frequency models for safety promotion of urban collector streets in Yazd, a city in the middle of Iran. Six models were developed to predict crash frequency along each street section. This study concentrated on 5 collector streets comprising 31 street sections. They concluded that of all the models, the developed hybrid artificial neural networks model provided the best performance in terms of accuracy and the number of input variables.

Jessica Phillips et al. from the USA have examined trends in helmet use by motorcycle riders in the 1900s and the 2000s after the repeal of the mandatory helmet laws. They maintain that their study shows that trends in helmet use vary by multiple demographic factors. Enforcement of legislation requires support of other strategies.

Kenneth Amaechi Agu et al. from Nigeria have presented a paper on seat-belt use among drivers in an urban setting from Enugu, the capital city of Enugu State in the south-east of Nigeria. Direct observation of seat-belt compliance in drivers was studied by gender, vehicle type and time of day. It was found that compliance on seat-belt use was low. Poor enforcement could well be one of the main reasons.

J. I. Nazif-Munaz et al. from Canada have submitted a case study from Chile on the implications of child restraint legislation. This essay attempts to study whether such a mandatory legislation has had a measurable effect on the mortality and morbidity of children travelling in vehicles. They conclude that for a law to be effective, there must be comprehensive enforcement; equally is of paramount importance that child restraint systems should be properly installed in the correct manner.

From Iran we have a submission on the burden of road traffic injuries in Kermanshah Province based on the work of NedaIzadi et al. This study made use of the National Death Registration and Forensics Medicine data to determine the years of life lost, and the years lost to disability. It was felt that cost-effective interventions based on comprehensive and multi-sectorial programmes at both, the national and provincial levels can save many lives and resources that are lost every year.

Uduak Urua et al. from Nigeria have done a cost analysis of road traffic injuries in a tertiary hospital in Ibadan, in the south-west part of the country. It was found that surgery was the most expensive procedure the victim had to submit to follow by wound dressing and drugs. It was found that the out-of-pocket expenditure was over 86%. It was felt that there was a need to adopt strategies to improve access to medical insurance and that a new mechanism must be put in place to mitigate the catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by the crash victims.

In Europe, there are more than 3800 fatalities in the European Union railway system due to suicides or trespassing passengers. The present study by Grigore M. Havarneanu et al. from Europe has presented a six-step model to mitigate these fatalities. They indicate that specific areas must be identified which are prone to trespass or suicide and the underlying causes of risky behaviour must be corrected in a locally relevant manner.

Mohit J. Jain et al. from India have sent in a paper on a study of worldwide selfie-related accidental mortality: a growing problem of modern society. This is an attempt to examine the epidemiological characteristics of this phenomenon. Eighty two per cent of the victims were male. Fall from heights, drowning and rail accidents are the most common forms of deaths. This is a matter which requires further investigation with a multifactorial approach.

Therese S. Richmond et al. from the USA have submitted a study on global injury prevention from a local context focusing on a multinational company in Bangalore, India, with over 100,000 employees. The integrated health service programme of America and India collaborated in this research work. The authors of this study felt that several road safety interventions were available for MNC implementation. They have managed to devise a methodology that is replicable and straightforward to gather employee perspectives for local road traffic intervention strategies, that is, both global and local.

The wide range of topics presented in this volume shows the need to continue our common pursuit of producing evidence-based knowledge especially involving the impact of road designs and built environment features on road safety – a topic not well studied even in the West (Elvik, 2017). Similarly, continued efforts are required to understand the effectiveness of proper enforcement of legislations requiring seat-belt and helmet use in different environments.