Road User Behaviour Research Articles

Review and assessment of different perspectives of vehicle-pedestrian conflicts and crashes: Passive and active analysis approaches

The importance of investigating pedestrian safety has been evaluated repeatedly in safety studies. The present study attempts to evaluate the various methods used by previous researchers in a hierarchical process, to determine the characteristics, advantages, and limitations of each method. Two general analysis approaches (passive and active) were taken into account to categorize 169 previous types of research. In the passive approach, the studied methods were those based on crash databases, questionnaires, and post-crash field observation data; while, in the active approach, the studied methods were those based on driving simulations and videography. The result of the passive approach reveals that road users' features and road characteristics (crash database studies), and error, lapses, intentional and unintentional violations (questionnaire studies) by them were among the most important causes of crashes and conflicts. Furthermore, road users’ distractions also reported a set of factors affecting the possibility of conflicts and crashes based on post-crash field observation studies. Also, results of the active approach showed that risky behaviors are the most important factor in threatening pedestrian safety such as unauthorized speeding, non-compliance with traffic law, unauthorized overtaking by drivers, and illegal crossing. Furthermore, risk perception and decision-making processes are the most important bond between the attitude and behavior of road users in dangerous driving situations. Examining studies through passive approach would lead to identifying the causes of crashes, recognizing the attitude of road users towards safety, and determining road users' behavioral patterns in certain situations, while the active approach has led to a more detailed understanding of behaviors and attitudes of road users. The inference of the findings obtained in this study will lead to a better understanding of the behavior of road users for studies on advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS).

Are Traffic Announcements Really Effective? A Systematic Review of Evaluations of Crash-Prevention Communication Campaigns

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.

Risk Factors for Road Traffic Injury-Related Mortality in Iran; a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction:Gathering information regarding the risk factors of mortality and disability due to road traffic injuries can provide evidence for adopting effective interventions to reduce the burden of the injury. Therefore, the present study intends to identify the most important risk factors of road accident-related mortality in Iran by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods:Search was done in English and Persian electronic databases, for articles published until the end of 2020. Cross-sectional, cohort and case-control studies were included. Risk factors were divided into age and sex, road related factors, exceeding speed limit, road user behaviors, vehicle related factors, weather condition, and light condition. Data were reported as adjusted odds ratio (OR) of death with 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results:20 studies were included (2,682,434 traffic accident victims and 23,272 deaths; mortality rate=1.28%). The risk of death in road traffic injuries in men was 1.66 times higher than women (OR = 1.66; 95% CI: 1.03, 2.68) and with each year increase in age, the risk increased by 1% (OR = 0.01; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.01). In addition, accident in urban streets (OR = 1.76; 95% CI: 1.08, 2.88), roadway defects (OR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.59, 2.91), and not driving on a flat and straight road (OR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.14, 2.24) were the most important road-related risk factors for mortality. Exceeding the speed limit was another risk factor of death (OR = 3.16; 95% CI: 2.83, 3.54). However, regarding exceeding safe speed, only three studies have been included, which greatly reduces the power of analysis. Not maintaining focus on the road (OR = 2.99; 95% CI: 1.49, 6.04), not fastening seatbelt (OR = 3.11; 95% CI: 1.08, 8.91), and reckless overtaking (OR = 4.04; 95% CI: 3.34, 4.89) were independent road user-related risk factors for mortality. Risk of pedestrian mortality in comparison with drivers and passengers is 2.07 times higher (OR = 2.07; 95% CI: 1.53, 2.58). In addition, risk of death in accidents occurring during daylight hours (OR = 0.26; 95% CI: 0.18, 0.37) is lower than that of other hours. No significant relationship was present between mortality and vehicle types (four-wheeled vehicle: OR = 0.99; 95% CI: 0.050, 1.97; two-wheeled vehicle: OR = 0.75; 95% CI: 0.48, 1.16). In the case of vehicle-related factors, only 2 studies were included, which also dealt only with the type of vehicle (two-wheeled/four-wheeled). Vehicle-related factors such as the car model, its safety rating, and safety standards were not mentioned in any study. Conclusion:Low to very low-level evidence shows that there is a significant relationship between factors related to age, sex, road, road user, exceeding the speed limit, and light condition with the mortality of traffic accident victims. However, all studies included in the present study were retrospectively designed and the analyses were not adjusted for most of the key potential confounders. Therefore, it seems that despite years of effort by researchers in the field of traffic accidents in Iran, there is still no comprehensive and reliable picture of the most important risk factors for road accident mortalities in Iran.

Willingness to Pay for Road Safety Improvements in Poland

Purpose: The article presents the results of empirical research on the application of the WTP method in Poland and VSL for Poland for different road users: pedestrians and drivers. Design/Methodology/Approach: An essential instrument for improving road traffic safety is to identify factors determining the behaviour of road users and their willingness to pay (WTP) for reducing the risk of death or injury. The research was conducted on a representative sample of 1085 people using a conjoint analysis. It was preceded by preliminary research using the bulletin board discussion technique for improving the quality of the measuring instrument. Findings: The research allowed for estimating the Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) and determine the profile of behaviour of protected and unprotected road users. The VSL estimate for Poland does not differ significantly from the values determined for other European and non-European countries, but is lowest. Practical Implications: The study provides in-depth knowledge about the socio-economic profile of road users necessary to improve the effectiveness of educational programs in the field of road safety improvement. Originality/value: The VSL research was conducted with an exclusive, two-stage method of using the bulletin board discussion (BBD) technique and the conjoint analysis based on the WTP method; This study estimated the Value of Statistical Life in terms of road safety for different road users: pedestrians and drivers in Poland.

Investigating yielding behavior of heterogeneous vehicles at a semi-controlled crosswalk

It is well known that pedestrians are vulnerable road users. Their risk of being injured or killed in road traffic crashes is even higher as vehicle drivers often violate traffic rules and do not slow down or yield in front of crosswalks. In order to reduce this risk, many countries have issued strict regulations requiring vehicles to yield to pedestrians in front of crosswalks. While extensive literature exists on the interaction between vehicles and pedestrians, the consideration of heterogeneity in the behavior of vehicles is vastly overlooked. Accordingly, this study analyzes the yielding behavior of three types of vehicles under the “pedestrian priority” policy by processing drone footage collected in Xi'an City (China) with a Machine Vision Intelligent Algorithm. Moreover, this study proposes four additional indicators to the widely used yielding rate and yielding delay with the aim of evaluating yielding behavior of three types of vehicles. The results show that buses have the best yielding behavior from the perspective of yielding rate, yielding delay, waiting time, yielding angle and waiting site. Buses perform well in observing pedestrian dynamics near crosswalk, and perform exceptionally well in considering the “blind area” of vision. The location of the waiting site in front of the stop line and the length of the waiting time contribute to the safe crossing of pedestrians. In contrast, private cars perform badly in yielding to pedestrians. However, serious polarization can be observed across private cars, as the performance varies across the board. The relaxation of the homogenization assumption of the behavior of vehicles in pedestrian-vehicle interaction, alongside the improvements in the analysis via Machine Vision Intelligent Algorithm of videos acquired via drone, shows the possibility of having a deeper understanding of the yielding behavior of vehicles at crosswalk. The extension of the use of artificial intelligence methods to analyze drone footage has immense potential in understanding road user behavior and hence providing knowledge for crash prevention.

Statistical analysis of the peak hour headways in a freeway weaving section: A case study on Riyadh Makkah road

The headway distribution study offers an insight into vehicle flow that can be useful to traffic studies and management in many respects; for example, with a better understanding of road traffic patterns and road user behavior, the researchers or engineers could make better estimate and predict traffic flow under certain road traffic conditions and thus improve traffic management. There is some research on headways in Saudi Arabia for free flow traffic on freeways, but few studies are for congested areas, such as weaving sections. This study has been done to statistically analyze headways in the weaving area of Makkah Road in Riyadh during peak time and find an appropriate distribution of headways. Headway data were acquired from the captured images of the traffic data recorded by video cameras. The following statistical analysis was based on that data. A special program was used to find a best-fit distribution for the headways, which was followed by a statistical verification process using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test.

Autonomous Vehicles and Vulnerable Road-Users-Important Considerations and Requirements Based on Crash Data from Two Countries.

(1) Background: Passenger vehicles equipped with advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) functionalities are becoming more prevalent within vehicle fleets. However, the full effects of offering such systems, which may allow for drivers to become less than 100% engaged with the task of driving, may have detrimental impacts on other road-users, particularly vulnerable road-users, for a variety of reasons. (2) Crash data were analysed in two countries (Great Britain and Australia) to examine some challenging traffic scenarios that are prevalent in both countries and represent scenarios in which future connected and autonomous vehicles may be challenged in terms of safe manoeuvring. (3) Road intersections are currently very common locations for vulnerable road-user accidents; traffic flows and road-user behaviours at intersections can be unpredictable, with many vehicles behaving inconsistently (e.g., red-light running and failure to stop or give way), and many vulnerable road-users taking unforeseen risks. (4) Conclusions: The challenges of unpredictable vulnerable road-user behaviour at intersections (including road-users violating traffic or safe-crossing signals, or taking other risks) combined with the lack of knowledge of CAV responses to intersection rules, could be problematic. This could be further compounded by changes to nonverbal communication that currently exist between road-users, which could become more challenging once CAVs become more widespread.

TRIP GENERATION OF ADULT WORKERS: A CASE OF GHANA

Understanding the travel behaviour of road users is important in the development of transportation plans. In Ghana, most studies focus on mode choice modelling with truly little studies on trip generation. This paper examines the influence of household and individual characteristics together with other explanatory variables on trip generation using data from the 2012 Ghana Transport Indicator Database Survey which was conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service. Linear regression models were used to model the number of trips by car, bicycle, motorcycle, foot, taxi and bus for all working adults. The results from the study show that gender, age, education level and residential location all show a significant impact on the number of trips generated for the different trip modes. From the results, the cultural background of a worker also significantly affect bicycle trips a worker make. Also, adult household is that reside in the city center make fewer trips by car than similar adults that live outside the city center. The number of trips generated by an adult worker can also be used to explain the perception variables estimate. The model results can also be used to make trip generation prediction in developing transportation plans for Ghana

A two-layer switching based trajectory prediction method

Safety-critical situations in road traffic often result from incorrect estimation of the future behavior of other road users. Therefore, many Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) need prediction models to ensure safety. Physical prediction models offer the advantage of general use and work quite well for short prediction horizons, while for longer periods of time, maneuver-based models offer better performance which, however, strongly depends on the data used to train them. An additional challenge for prediction is the fact that the surrounding traffic can change its path, i.e. for safety not only one maneuver should be considered but regular updates are required. Against this background, we propose a method that uses three physics-based predictions – corresponding to different prediction assumptions and models – combined with possible maneuver-based trajectories derived from environmental knowledge. Continuous monitoring is used to select the most likely of the three physics-based models. This choice then influences the environment-based prediction and the output of both models is fused afterwards. The output of the resulting Multiple Model Trajectory Prediction (MMTP) has been validated with measured data from two different scenarios – a city junction and a highway – with a good prediction performance and without the need for special measurements as commonly required for maneuver-based prediction.

A novel agent-based framework for evaluating pedestrian safety at unsignalized mid-block crosswalks

A critical safety problem in road networks is the conflicts on unsignalized crosswalks. Thus, a proactive approach to assess pedestrian safety performance is required. Simulating the microscopic road user behavior in a virtual platform is one of the typical approaches. However, current simulation tools are not flexible enough to properly reproduce various behaviors of pedestrians and drivers considering their interactions with the road environment and other road users. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to propose a novel agent-based framework for evaluating pedestrian safety at unsignalized crosswalks. Unsignalized mid-block crosswalks with refuge islands (UMCR) are considered as an example facility to implement the proposed framework, where relevant behavioral elements such as the reaction time, visual field with obstacles, and minimum safety margin time are addressed. Not only the pedestrian-vehicle interaction is modeled but also the vehicle-vehicle interaction is considered. Empirical validation on a UMCR shows that the proposed framework can reproduce reliable distributions of the post encroachment time compared to the observed distributions within an acceptable error range. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the high reaction time of drivers, small safety margin time, and visual obstacles near crosswalks increase the probability of serious conflicts. The results also show that the framework can reproduce traffic crashes under assumed extreme road conditions.

Breaking the Law

This paper adapts existing theoretical frameworks of social norms and their interactions with laws to study the case of rule violations in Indian road traffic. Specifically, we look at the case where existing laws and rules are violated with such regularity that breaking the law becomes the social norm. We investigate this framework in the case of road user behaviour in (urban) India, where road safety and traffic violations have been the focus of recent policy changes. We propose that a lack of road discipline and traffic violations have an impact on road safety, as well as on congestion. These, in turn, have implications for the economic productivity and development of a country, as well as the well-being of its citizens. Our application of the framework suggests conditions of enforcement under which such harmful social norms can be reversed. Policy interventions and scope for behaviorally-informed policies targeted at improving road user behaviour are discussed.

Assessment of the Influence of Road Infrastructure Parameters on the Behaviour of Drivers and Pedestrians in Pedestrian Crossing Areas

Pedestrians are participants and, most likely, fatalities in every third road traffic accident in Poland. Over 30% of all fatalities on Polish roads are pedestrians. Accidents with pedestrians are very often the result of various factors related to the infrastructure and behaviour of pedestrians and drivers. The objective of the work was to assess driver and pedestrian behaviour in pedestrian crossing areas. The research also served as a pilot study for similar work to be conducted across Poland, and constituted the basis for monitoring the behaviour of road users in the area of pedestrian crossings. Parameters which must be analysed were identified on the basis of field studies. Principles of selecting test sites were adopted, and measurement methods for pedestrian crossing areas are presented. The influence of the location of the selected test cross-section infrastructure parameters on the behaviour of road users in pedestrian crossing areas is demonstrated. The results of the study will be used as a basis for new solutions involving pedestrian crossing infrastructure designed to improve pedestrian safety. The results were also used in formulating new regulations for the design and maintenance of pedestrian crossings and recommendations for road safety auditors.

Influencing factors of observed speed and rule compliance of speed-pedelec riders in high volume cycling areas: Implications for safety and legislation

Speed pedelecs (s-pedelecs) are electric bicycles offering pedal assistance up to 45 km/h. S-pedelecs may contribute to a more efficient and green traffic system. However, their potential to reach high speeds has raised road safety concerns. In the Netherlands a new legislation bans s-pedelecs from bicycle paths in urban areas. On the roads with a maximum speed limit of 50 km/h with adjacent bicycle paths, s-pedelec riders must use the roadways instead of the bicycle path. The impact of this legislation on the behaviour of s-pedelec riders and other road users as well as the possible consequences for road safety are yet unknown. Therefore, this naturalistic riding study investigated the safety-relevant behaviours of s-pedelec riders, i.e. speed characteristics while riding on the roadway, the extent of non-compliance with the ban on using bicycle paths, and speed and speed adaptation while using bicycle paths. Furthermore the study explored factors possibly influencing rider behaviour (the s-pedelec's motor-power, riders’ beliefs and perceptions) as well as negative reactions of other road users encountering s-pedelec riders. 28 participants used a s-pedelec (a 350 W type or a 500 W type) for everyday trips for at least a fortnight. The s-pedelecs were equipped with two action cameras with integrated sensors and GPS. The results showed that mean speed on 50 km/h roadways was 31.8 km/h, which is far below the road's speed limit. The mean speed did not differ between s-pedelec types, but the speed distribution did. The ‘500 W riders’ travelled 31.7% of the total distance in the 41–50 km/h speed band, as compared to 6.9% of the ‘350 W riders’. Furthermore the 500 W riders evaluated riding on the roadway more positively than the 350 W riders. On the roadway s-pedelec riders experienced signals of hinderance of the traffic flow (on average every 2 km) and negative reactions from drivers (on average every 27.5 km). As for non-compliance riders covered on average 22.5% of the distance on bicycle paths. The more the riders disagreed with the new legislation, the more distance they covered on the bicycle path. Mean speed on bicycle paths was 28.5 km/h, and it was significantly higher for 500 W riders than for 350 W riders. Speeds between 41 and 50 km/h were also far more common for 500 W riders (14.9% of the distance) than for 350 W riders (0.5%). Compared to the roadway 350 W riders reduced their speed on the bicycle paths to a higher extent (from 31.4 to 25.7 km/h) than 500 W riders did (from 31.9 to 30.5 km/h). The frequency of harsh braking of s-pedelec riders was low and did not differ between the roadway and the bicycle paths. In conclusion, s-pedelec riders in the Netherlands frequently ride on the bicycle paths although it is illegal. On the bicycle paths their speeds are much higher than those of conventional cyclists. On the 50 km/h-roadways, however, s-pedelec riders are apparently too slow for the traffic conditions. Overall, the speed profiles of 350 W types were better suited to the bicycle paths, whereas those of 500 W types to the roadways.

Attitude vs. infrastructure: Influences on the intention to overtake bicycle riders

The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) has recently gained some heightened attention in the traffic safety community in predicting risky behavior. On the other hand, infrastructure layout has often been shown to influence road user behavior in direct ways in traffic observations. In an online survey, 108 holders (81% female) of a valid car-driving license reported on their attitude, social norms, and perceived behavioral control towards overtaking bicycle riders with a smaller than legal margin. Additionally, they rated their willingness to overtake a bicycle rider as well as perceived risk for six traffic sketches. In these sketches, infrastructure layout was systematically varied on two dimensions: (1) streets with or without a center-line between directions of travel and (2) streets marked with either a cycle lane, an advisory lane for bicycle riders or none of these. A repeated measures ANOVA with center line and cycling street markings as independent variables and attitude, social norms, and perceived behavioral control as covariates showed that intention to overtake was only influenced by street markings and the interaction of attitude and street markings, showing that intention to overtake was higher with markings than without, and even higher when attitude towards illegally small distances to overtake was more positive. Ratings of risk while overtaking were only influenced by street markings, showing that ratings of risk were lower for any of the marked designs than those without. Data analysis suggests that personal motivations play a far less important role in the intention to overtake bicycle riders with a non-safe distance than infrastructure designs do. Even the judgement of risk for a given situation seems to be influenced by some markings on the street but not by personal motivations.

The Pilot Study of the Hazard Perception Test for Evaluation of the Driver’s Skill Using Virtual Reality

Background: Although various technologies are used to evaluate driving skill, there are some limitations such as the limited range of the monitor and the possible risk of causing cybersickness. The purpose of this study is to investigate differences in the hazard perception and cybersickness experienced between novice and experienced drivers measured in a VR hazard perception test with a head-mounted display (HMD). Methods: The novice (n = 32) and the experienced drivers (n = 36) participated in the hazard perception test through the VR of an HMD. Results: The total number of identified hazards was 1071 in the novice drivers and 1376 in the experienced drivers. Two of the hazards appeared to be only identifiable through the HMD. A chi-square test revealed that experienced drivers were more likely to identify the hazards than the novice drivers (p < 0.05). The novice drivers appeared to identify “hazard prediction of the current behavior of other road users” more than other hazard types, unlike the experienced group. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire scores indicated no significant difference in the different age or gender groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the VR hazard perception test may be useful for evaluating patients’ driving skills.

Random parameters Bayesian hierarchical modeling of traffic conflict extremes for crash estimation

The use of Extreme Value Theory (EVT) models for traffic conflict-based crash estimation is becoming increasingly popular with considerable recent advances achieved. The latest advances include developing EVT models that combine several conflict indicators and the use of data from several sites to increase the sample size of conflict extremes. Nevertheless, one important issue while developing EVT models is accounting for the unobserved heterogeneity across different conflict observation sites and road user behaviours which can lead to biased and inefficient parameter estimates and erroneous inferences. This study proposes a random parameters (RP) Bayesian hierarchical extreme value modeling approach to account for the unobserved heterogeneity. The proposed approach is applied to estimate rear-end crashes from traffic conflicts collected from four signalized intersections in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. Traffic conflicts were characterized by four indicators: time to collision (TTC), modified TTC (MTTC), post-encroachment time (PET), and deceleration rate to avoid a crash (DRAC). MTTC was used to fit the generalized extreme value distribution, while the other three conflict indicators were treated as covariates. Six covariates including TTC, PET, DRAC, traffic volume, shock wave area, and platoon ratio were considered to account for non-stationarity in conflict extremes. Several RP, random intercepts (RI), and fixed parameters (FP) Bayesian hierarchical univariate extreme value models were developed. The results indicate that the RP model outperforms both the RI model and the FP model in terms of crash estimation accuracy and precision. Such superiority may be due to the ability of the RP model to better account for the unobserved heterogeneity.

On Causal Relationship in Crimes under Art. 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The specifics of the causal relationship between road accidents and the resulting negative consequences (serious harm to health, death of a person) have long remained debatable. Doctrinal approaches to the disclosure of causality in transport crimes seem in some cases too theorized or appear to be fragmentary special cases that are not part of a certain system. This situation is due to objective reasons, a variety of types of transport accidents associated with violation of traffic rules. Violations of security requirements by several persons are of increased interest. The law enforcement officer needs clear and applicable rules for assessing the causality of an accident. The analysis of law enforcement practice made it possible to assess the behavior of road users from the moment the danger occurred until the onset of an emergency, to determine the objective and subjective parameters of traffic that are causally related to the consequences that entail the onset of liability under Art. 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. When classifying the act in accordance with this regulatory provision, the analysis shall include not only the actions of the subjects who created a danger to traffic, but also those who have ignored the legal obligation to prevent the occurrence of negative consequences.

Disparity of motorcycle helmet use in Nepal – Weak law enforcement or riders' reluctance?

Like many low- and middle-income countries, Nepal is experiencing a massive motorization, predominantly from increased use of motorcycles which is driving a surge in road-related injuries and fatalities. Motorcycles and their riders have been identified as a focal point for road traffic injury prevention measures. While helmet use is mandatory for both motorcycle drivers and passengers, fines for helmet non-use are only levied on drivers, not on passengers, and it is unclear how this unequal enforcement translates to helmet use rates in Nepal. Hence, a video-based observation on motorcyclists’ helmet use was conducted alongside a questionnaire survey on fatalism, perceived police enforcement, risk-taking personality, and perceived usefulness of helmets. For the observation and questionnaire survey, seven rural and urban sites were selected from all seven provinces of Nepal, representing varied populations, road environments, and elevations. The observation of the helmet use behavior of 2548 motorcycle riders revealed an alarming picture of helmet use in Nepal. While more than 98% of observed motorcycle drivers in Nepal used a motorcycle helmet, less than 1% of observed passengers did so. Interviews of 220 riders show that the absence of a fine for helmet non-use by passengers is accompanied by an unawareness of the traffic law, where only 11.8% of respondents knew about the mandatory helmet use law for passengers. Unhelmeted riders had a significantly higher attribution of road related crashes to fate, compared with riders that used a helmet. Results of this study can serve as an evidence base for revisions of Nepal’s Vehicle and Transportation Management Act in regard to traffic rule enforcement and fines. They further show the global importance of comprehensive regulation on safety related behaviors of road users. The feasibility of more comprehensive enforcement is discussed against the background of helmet availability for passengers.

Safer spaces: The impact of a reduction in road fatalities on the life expectancy of South Africans

In this paper we determine the burden on society of fatalities resulting from road traffic injuries (RTIs) in South Africa. We express the burden in terms of reduced life expectancy and years of potential life lost (YPLL). Our main data source is the Injury Mortality Survey (IMS), a retrospective descriptive study carried out in South Africa. Using the mortality rates by sex and age from the IMS we calculate actual life expectancy at birth. In our counterfactual analysis we assume a 15 % reduction in road fatalities per year over a period of 10 years. A comparison of the estimated actual and counterfactual life expectancies suggests that the average gain in life expectancy at birth would be 0.58 years. Since the overwhelming majority of road traffic fatalities are male (75.7 %), there is a considerable gender difference. Men would gain on average 0.85 years while women would gain 0.30 years in life expectancy, closing the gender gap in life expectancy by about 14 %. We then discuss how a reduction in RTIs could be achieved. South Africa’s legislation addresses several of the important aspects of road safety (e.g. seat belt use, drink driving restrictions, speed limits, infrastructure improvements), however, enforcement is relatively weak and should be improved. There are a raft of measures that have been well researched in other countries, most interventions aim to modify the behaviour of road users and have been found to be cost effective. In addition to stricter enforcement, evidence from social science suggests that compliance could be increased through a change in social norms regarding road usage.

Road User Attitudes and Their Reported Behaviours in Abuja, Nigeria

The continuous increases in the numbers of road traffic crashes (RTC) over the years, especially in developing countries, have been a source of worry. The majority of the RTC are attributed to road user behaviours exhibited by the drivers. This study sets out to investigate the road user attitudes and behaviours in Abuja, Nigeria. A total of 1526 questionnaires were distributed, of which 321 questionnaires were completed and returned. The questionnaires tried to understand four major road user behaviours, namely use of seatbelts, drink driving, use of mobile phone while driving, and use of child restraints. The results after analysing the questionnaires showed that the majority of the road users in Abuja showed high non-compliance with the use of seatbelts, either when driving or when being driven. About 64% of the respondents admitted to not using seatbelts. Results from the cross-tabulation process showed that the high non-compliance to seatbelt usage was statistically associated with young, single road users. Around one-third of Abuja road users admitted to drink driving. Road users who were married engaged in more frequent drink driving than road users who were single, and the association was statistically significant. A high percentage of Abuja road users admitted to using mobile phones while driving and 55.8% of the total respondents admitted to not using child restraints while driving. A lack of child restraints was statistically associated more with male road users than female road users. It is recommended that stricter enforcement of road safety laws should be undertaken and that the government should provide road safety agents with the right equipment (e.g., speed guns, breathalyzers) that would aid road safety agents to perform their duties effectively in order to curb the excessive bad road user behaviours in Abuja.