Towards a holistic framework for road safety in Australia

May, Murray; Tranter, Paul; Warn, James

doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2008.04.004

Cited by 24 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Increasing traffic speeds by only 1 km/h can lead to a 3% increase in injury crashes and a 4-5% increase in fatal crashes. 5 The risks associated with speeding have been compared with driving under the influence of alcohol. The risk of injury from a collision is similar for a person driving 5 km/h over a 60-km/h speed limit and a person driving at the speed limit with a blood alcohol level of 0.05 g/ 100 ml.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Speed Kills: The Complex Links Between Transport, Lack of Time and Urban Health

Tranter

2010

J Urban Health

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Road safety experts understand the contribution of speed to the severity and frequency of road crashes. Yet, the impact of speed on health is far more subtle and pervasive than simply its effect on road safety. The emphasis in urban areas on increasing the speed and volume of car traffic contributes to ill-health through its impacts on local air pollution, greenhouse gas production, inactivity, obesity and social isolation. In addition to these impacts, a heavy reliance on cars as a supposedly 'fast' mode of transport consumes more time and money than a reliance on supposedly slower modes of transport (walking, cycling and public transport). Lack of time is a major reason why people do not engage in healthy behaviours. Using the concept of 'effective speed', this paper demonstrates that any attempt to 'save time' through increasing the speed of motorists is ultimately futile. Paradoxically, if planners wish to provide urban residents with more time for healthy behaviours (such as exercise and preparing healthy food), then, support for the 'slower' active modes of transport should be encouraged. INTRODUCTIONDecreasing the speed of urban transport can have positive impacts on the economy, the environment and health. This paper outlines the main themes of existing research on these impacts and then explores the possibility that there is a more subtle, but no less important, link between speed and health. The paper argues that speed has a cost that can be measured in money and in time. This can produce a paradox whereby 'faster' modes of transport lead to a loss of time. Lack of time, or time pressure, has been identified as an important factor in urban health, due to its negative impact on mental health but also due to its impact on the ability or willingness of people to engage in physical exercise or to avoid fast (junk) food.The arguments about the health impacts of speed apply most clearly to the use of private motor vehicles, and this paper focuses on the health impacts of increasing the speed of cars. However, some of the arguments are also relevant to other highspeed modes. For example, high-speed trains can encourage urban sprawl, the complex negative health impacts of which are outlined below.Tranter is with the School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, UNSW@ADFA, Canberra, ACT, Australia.Correspondence: Paul Joseph Tranter, PhD, School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, UNSW@ADFA, Canberra, ACT, Australia. (E-mail: paul.tranter@adfa.edu.au) EXISTING UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE LINKS BETWEEN SPEED AND HEALTHSpeed is most commonly seen as a health issue in relation to road crashes. There are several other ways in which the speed of motorised traffic is linked to factors that have clear negative health impacts. Increasing the speed of motorised traffic increases levels of pollution. 1 High car speeds can affect levels of physical activity through reductions in active transport, including children's independent mobility. Local social interactions are disrupted by high...

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confidence: 99%

Speed Kills: The Complex Links Between Transport, Lack of Time and Urban Health

Tranter

2010

J Urban Health

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“…In contrast, these results reject the formalization of coordinated responses and legal mandates to coordinate responses. In this sense, this advice on how to achieve (Hull, 2005) coordinated responses at a local level supports the calls to reconnect road traffic injury prevention with communities through holism (May et. al.., 2008).…”

Section: Implications For Road Safety Managementsupporting

confidence: 61%

“…This is knowledge of community attitudes to risk factors such as speeding (May et. al., 2008), community members' propensity to engage in risky road use behavior and informal moderators of behavior such as peer pressure, thus allowing road traffic injury prevention approaches to go beyond symptomatic, technical and physical solutions (May et. al.., 2008).…”

Section: Implications For Road Safety Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As shown in Chapter Six and the degree of misinformation and mistrust in the opinions in this chapter, the four processes listed above are not being undertaken in Australia. (Whitelegg, 1983) or a need for a holistic approach, which encourages active transport options (May et. al.., 2008;May et.…”

Section: Managing Road Safety Countermeasuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, road traffic injury prevention is regarded as a policy field requiring a holistic perspective or a systems thinking approach (Peden et. al.., 2004;May et. al., 2008;WHO, 2009b;WHO, 2013;WHO, 2015).…”

Section: Introductory Commentsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Developing a Theoretical Framework for Improved Practical Application of a Coordinated Response in Road Safety

Canoquena¹

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Coordinated road safety countermeasures (responses) are a more effective way to reduce road traffic injuries than isolated action. However, the evidence in road safety literature appears to suggest that very little is known about the emergence or nature of coordinated road safety responses at a local level. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, the current research program developed conceptual tools through two theories (Policy Integration and the Dynamic Systems Theory) and four research objectives applied, predominantly, to the Australian road safety context. These To address RO1, two research chapters (Chapters 6 and 7) and a set of data analyses (Chapter 8) were employed. The first research paper (Chapter 6) addressed RO1 by investigating the public attitudes in Australia to road safety as a feature of the policy context in which coordinated road safety countermeasures could emerge.The analyses of the public attitudes (Chapter 6) contributed to the development of the descriptive model. It added a feature to one of the facets of the model -i.e. the need for community buy-in. This chapter resulted in two continua (the first set of conceptual tools) for the measurement of community support for road safety countermeasures.iv Chapter 7 contributed to RO1 by unveiling a wide range of variables related to the emergence of coordinated road safety countermeasures. These variables included triggers, context, facilitative activities and workflow models at a local level. This chapter allowed the nature of coordinated road safety strategies at a local level to be viewed as adaptive, with a system-orientation and independent yet inter-related networks of autonomous stakeholders. The workflows employed by these stakeholders to engender linked road safety programs were distributed (projectspecific). In this predominantly Australian context of inter-dependences across road safety actors, the evaluation of coordinated responses was both informal and perceptual (realist) in nature.Chapter 8 unveiled a depiction of the descriptive model (an additional conceptual tool) of the coordinated road safety responses adopted in Australia and some OECD countries. This model featured a phenomenon (a coordinated road safety response), its facets (actors, actions and context) and contributing factors (distal and proximal). The phenomenon was said to be activated by a wide range of triggers, although a unified consciousness to work together appeared to be the primary motivation. This trigger for coordinated work patterns amongst road safety stakeholders in Australia and some OECD countries was found to emerge as a result of the realization of inter-dependence across road safety actors and the existence of resilient cooperation across stakeholders. This inter-dependence was revealed to be associated with both resource scarcity and the realization that road traffic trauma in Australia and some OECD countries was a problem too big for a single stakeholder to tackle. In this sense, the need to develop clarity around priorities and emerg...

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Conclusion

Larouche¹,

Tranter²

2018

Children's Active Transportation

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Towards a holistic framework for road safety in Australia

Cited by 24 publications

References 14 publications

Speed Kills: The Complex Links Between Transport, Lack of Time and Urban Health

Speed Kills: The Complex Links Between Transport, Lack of Time and Urban Health

Developing a Theoretical Framework for Improved Practical Application of a Coordinated Response in Road Safety

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