Road Safety Strategies - the most fruitful directions

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Road Safety Strategies- the most fruitful
directions

• Ian Johnston
• Director
• Monash University
• Accident Research Centre

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S.A. 1950-2000
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We have come a long wayBUThow well will our
current strategies serve us in the future?
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We have done most of the easy thingsANDwe are
not even talking about the hard things
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Why is there such a large gap between road safety
knowledge and action?

• fundamentally because we value personal
  time/mobility far above community safety
• which has created a personal transport milieu
  that is ultimately incompatible with a minimal
  road toll

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Exhibit 1 - Community acceptance of a quantum
of road toll

• the single largest cause of death in the first
  five decades of life
• we value personal safety, not community safety
• but we worry only about departures from the norm

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Exhibit 2- The human failure myth

• our system of blame
• lack of understanding of system design role
• aided and abetted by sectional interest

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Exhibit 3- The regulatory stick era

• mandated protection - seat belts - helmets
• tough laws
• intense enforcement
• high penalties

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Great valuebut

• alcohol - still 20-25
• 97 belt wearing but
• more anti-social in a smaller road toll

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Whats left in the regulatory kit bag?

• drugs? possibly
• fatigue? unlikely
• speed? absolutely, but

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Exhibit 4 - The speed management controversy

• speed or speeding?
• enforcement tolerances
• camera rage
• revenue raising

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Exhibit 5- The illusion of vehicle safety

• excellent gains in crashworthinessBUT only
  modest levels of absolute protection
• 30 km/h for pedestrians
• 30-50 km/h for side impacts
• 65-70 km/h for head on

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Exhibit 6 - The market dominance of power and
performance

• we design, build and market cars with performance
  potential way beyond what is legal or even
  feasible in traffic

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Red Zone
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Exhibit 7 - The illusion of safe road
infrastructure

• long lengths per taxpayer mean cost premium
• little of road stock at high design standard
• almost none at high roadside safety standard

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Exhibit 8- Our failure to deal with run off
road

• 4 in 10 deaths
• alcohol, fatigue, distraction, speed
• causes not consequences
• the 8020 rule

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What have we done?

• improved alignment
• sealed shoulders
• tactile edgelines

but these are spot treatments not system wide
approaches
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Hope beyond standards?

• NCAP
• AusRAP
• BUT consumer leadership is still in its infancy

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We need a sea change

• We have most of the benefits from the regulatory
  stick
• Crashworthiness gains are fewer and smaller
• We dont have the benefits of road infrastructure
  safety, particularly roadside safety

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My Big
5

• two for now
• three for the future

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NOW

• Reduce urban travel speeds by 3-5 km/h
• how?
• value of forcing social change

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NOW

1. Programmaticimprovement in rural roadside safety

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FUTURE

• Confront the car culture
• the way cars are marketed
• the way driving is viewed

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FUTURE

• Strengthen the institutional accountabilities
• to provide a safe infrastructure
• have to break down the blame mentality

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FUTURE

• Develop real leadership
• by government / industry
• analogous to environment?
• a social responsibility model