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The World Health Organization (WHO) research shows that road traffic injures are a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, with around 1.3 million people killed and as many as 50 million people injured each year. For people aged 5-29 years, there is no greater threat to their lives. Globally, 1 of every 4 crash deaths occurs among pedestrians and cyclists. Reducing this shocking statistic is a key priority for the WHO and United Nations (UN) as part of their ‘Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety’. To support this global plan, 15th to 21st May is the UN’s 7th Global Road Safety Week, which TRL is proudly championing.
TRL is a world leader in transport safety and has developed products and expert services that have been proven to analyse, minimise and prevent road collisions.
To raise awareness of Global Road Safety Week, TRL will be posting a series of blogs written by our in-house experts, focusing on topics that relate to a future in which transport is safe for everyone. TRL’s Dr Shaun Helman has written a blog exploring how road safety need to be a focus of individuals of all ages.
Nearly everyone will be impacted by road safety (or rather, a lack of it) during their lifetime. I've heard estimates as high as 1 in 250 for the lifetime risk of death from a road collision, and as high as 1 in 2 for being involved in a collision in which someone is injured. (I should note that authoritative references for such statistics are elusive.) As we enter the 7th UN Global Road Safety Week, with a theme of sustainable transport and the need for governments to facilitate a short to walking, cycling and public transport in place of car use, it is worth remembering how 'lifetime risk' is only a single number, and that the stages of our lives present us with different challenges.
Children are, unsurprisingly, especially vulnerable when not in a vehicle - as I have noted before. Road traffic injury, according to the 2008 European Report on Child Injury Prevention is the leading killer of children aged 5-19 years in the World Health Organisation European Region, and the leading cause of traumatic brain and limb injury in this group. There are many mechanisms at play. Children are smaller and as a result more difficult for drivers to detect. Their visual perception is underdeveloped meaning they find it more difficult to properly judge traffic speed. They have a less-developed understanding of road rules and conventions, making them more likely to make the mistakes that the Safe System expects, but that many drivers do not. All of this makes safer speeds, and collision avoidance technologies in vehicles, even more important for this group, along with specific training such as this to empower them to choose modes such as cycling in the first place.
Adolescents face a different set of risk, especially as young drivers. This is one of the most well-researched groups in road safety. We have known for close to a century that they are at increased risk of crashing relative to their older, more experienced peers. The role of experience (in addition to that of youth) was recognised throughout the 1990s as TRL led research into crash liability and the implementation of the hazard perception testing, which since 2002 has, we believe, been saving thousands of novice drivers from being involved in collisions every year. This is also a group for which we have a known, effective intervention in the form of licensing reform. Much research including fromTRL shows that this approach is effective and that it can be implemented without undue impacts on mobility. Investment in public transport is one way to support new drivers in such licensing approaches, as they move through the system.
As we enter early adulthood and middle age, things rather calm down in terms of risk, although it is worth noting that many people who driver for work are involved in a high risk activity, and one for which there are still few evidence-based solutions. For those in charge of health and safety, there is a need to enact better Safe-System-based policies on driving at work. For those influencing policy, there is a need for bravery to speak up for a true Safe System approach in which safety really is primary, not just said to be so. Maturity brings with it other responsibilities too, such as being more likely to carrying children in our vehicles, or watching over them as we all cycle and walk in the sustainable transport utopia. Safe System thinking is needed here.
And as we enter older age, there is a difficult decision to make. Older people are at risk of different collisions and injuries than younger people, as their perceptual abilities and physical robustness decline. When do we give up driving? At around 20:45 in this radio interview the as-ever erudite Charles Musselwhite discusses how many of us make this decision ourselves; we are actually quite good at self-regulating our exposure to driving, as we notice our abilities wane. For many though, difficult conversations with family members will be had. As with younger drivers, the need for better public transport options is critical, so people can choose the sustainable option.
A week in road safety, as I have noted before, is not enough. It's time we got serious and realised that since our relationship with road safety (or a lack of it) lasts a lifetime, so should our vigilance.
To find out more about UN Global Road Safety week visit 7th UN Global Road Safety Week (who.int) and check out TRL’s social media for the next blog
If you would like to learn more about the work TRL is undertaking to make roads safer for all, drop us a line at info@TRL.co.uk
About the Author
Shaun is TRL’s Chief Scientist for Behavioural Sciences. He is an applied cognitive and social psychologist with nearly two decades’ experience in road safety, road user behaviour, and human-technology integration. His research focuses on the safety of young and newly qualified drivers, vulnerable road user safety (especially visibility and conspicuity) and work-related road safety. More generally, his research and commentary focus on raising the standards of evaluation and evidence in the transport domain, including research into automated driving technologies, low-emission vehicles, and the emergence of new models of the movement of people and goods such as shared mobility. He has a track record of delivering projects which impact directly on government policy and advice to road users, including many of the changes in the last decade to driver testing and licensing in Great Britain. He has written over 120 journal articles and customer reports since 2002 and has presented at numerous national and international conferences on road safety and other transport issues. He represents TRL at the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, acts as a reviewer for several scientific journals and grant bodies and is a Trustee of the Road Safety Trust.
