Communication campaigns are commonly used in the traffic and road safety sector to raise public awareness of the importance of avoiding risky road user attitudes and behaviors. Surprisingly few of these communication campaigns evaluate their effectiveness in a formal and comprehensive manner. The core aim of the present systematic review is to identify the type of studies that evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns in this sector, in order to identify and contrast their main findings. This systematic review followed the PRISMA methodology, by means of which the relevant articles based on the search term were identified. A total of 613 indexed articles were filtered, and a final set of 27 articles directly addressing the issue was analyzed. Search strategies were developed and conducted in WOS, Scopus, NCBI, Google Scholar and APA databases. The selected articles point out that, although advertisements alone have a certain positive effect, their effectiveness is substantially increased if they are accompanied by other preventive measures such as legislation or road safety education. In any case, more evaluations of traffic campaigns are needed to identify which techniques are effective and which are not, and which should therefore be replaced by new methods of behavior modification in future communication campaigns.
Introduction: Traditionally, the scientific literature on urban and transportation dynamics addresses many topics, but the security-related outcomes of users remain a pending issue, especially in emerging countries and their cities. Nevertheless, recent evidence suggests that, especially in developing countries, security issues may influence people's decision-making in the choice of transport means, daily urban-trip patterns and road behaviors of users. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between the perceived security (in both urban environments and public transport systems) and the daily-travel behavior and trip patterns of the Dominican Republic population. Methods: This cross-sectional study, performed in 2019, analyzed data collected from 1,026 inhabitants from different cities of the Dominican Republic (54% females and 46% males), who completed a survey on security issues, travel behaviors and transportation-related habits. Results: The results of this research suggest that demographic factors, such as age, education, and city/town size, and the safety perceived in the urban environment play a significant role in the choice of transportation modes, as well as in the participants' experience as victims of crime-related incidents (either witnessing or suffering crime episodes on public transport or city streets) during urban trips performed over the last 5 years. Conclusion: Overall, the results of this study suggest that perceived safety, in both urban environments and public transport systems, is a relevant issue affecting the daily transport-related patterns and behavioral choices of the Dominican Republic's population. The results of this research might contribute to the strengthening of transport security planning, considering factors that are not traditionally kept in mind for policymaking in transportation dynamics.
Although traffic crashes are the eighth leading cause of death in the world, and are linked to vehicle and infrastructure-related factors, crash-related fatality rates are much higher in low-income countries. Particularly, the Dominican Republic is the country with the highest accident rate in the whole American continent. Therefore, in the past few years, public agencies have been developing different measures aimed at reducing traffic fatalities, including road safety campaigns. The aim of the present study was to assess the recalling of such campaigns among the Dominican population, which may serve as an additional indicator to evaluate their effectiveness in this and other countries of the region presenting similar traffic safety issues. For this cross-sectional study, a nationwide sample composed of 1260 people (50% males and 50% females) with a mean age of 39.3 years was used. The data were collected through personal interviews. Overall, the recall of traffic safety campaigns was found to be very low (9%); male drivers who were employed, possessed a driver’s license and habitually drove were the ones who could commonly remember these campaigns. The results of this study suggest that further evaluation and follow-up could help to maximize the impact of future traffic campaigns and advertisements in the Dominican Republic, as well as in other emerging countries of the region with similar characteristics. Further, key segments of the population such as the female, young, less formally educated and non-driving populations should be also targeted for further actions in this regard.
One of the challenges currently faced by emerging countries is to get their citizens to decide to use sustainable transport for their regular trips, in order to reduce the current vehicular pollution rates. The objective of this descriptive research is to examine the perceptions of Dominicans regarding the state of the country’s transport systems and road infrastructure. For this purpose, a nationwide survey procedure was performed. This cross-sectional research used the data retrieved from a sample of 1260 citizens aged over 18, proportional in gender, age, habitat, and province of the Dominican Republic. The results showed how Dominicans believe that, compared to other road features, pedestrian roads and public transport vehicles remain in a very poor condition. Further, citizens report to be more interested about the improvement of road infrastructures than in the implementation of any other set of measures performed to promote sustainable road mobility, including those related with alternative transport means. Finally, this study claims for the need of fostering educational, communicative and participative actions and measures aimed at increasing the value given to sustainable transportation, and the relevance of integrate potential structural and vehicular improvements with those related to human behavior in mobility.
Technological devices are becoming more and more integrated in the management and control of traffic in big cities. The population perceives the benefits provided by these systems, and, therefore, citizens usually have a favorable opinion of them. However, emerging countries, which have fewer available infrastructures, could present a certain lack of trust. The objective of this work is to detect the level of knowledge and predisposition towards the use of new technologies in the transportation field of the Dominican Republic. For this study, the National Survey on Mobility was administered to a sample of Dominican citizens, proportional to the ONE census and to sex, age and province. The knowledge of ITS topics, as well as the use of mobile applications for mobility, are scarce; however, there was a significant increase that can be observed in only one year. Moreover, technology is, in general, positively assessed for what concerns the improvement of the traffic field, even though there is a lack of predisposition to provide one’s personal data, which is necessary for these devices. The process of technological development in the country must be backed up by laws that protect the citizens’ privacy. Thus, technologies that can improve road safety, mobility and sustainability can be implemented in the country.
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