Interventions to reduce road trauma

Abstract

This chapter is written from the perspective of someone who started her research career as an experimental cognitive psychologist but spent the pas t20 years in road safety. There is an interesting parallel here with the structure of the book as a whole. It starts with detailed descriptions of the perceptual and cognitive issues in driving and then ends with a chapter that effectively says “well, this is what we can do to fix the problems.” In this chapter I have tried to convey the multidisciplinary nature of interventions to reduce road trauma and to stress the point that the nature of the problem does not dictate the nature of the solution. Behavioral problems are not always best dealt with by behavioural interventions. This chapter attempts to show that road trauma prevention must combine interventions that prevent crashes and also those that reduce injury severity. I hope that this chapter fosters the concept of a “successful crash” as one in which the road and vehicle system succeeds in protecting the occupants from serious harm.