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H2020Staff exchange2015–2018

TraSaCu · Traffic Safety Cultures and the Safe Systems Approach – Towards a Cultural Change Research and Innovation Agenda for Road Safety

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2015-03-01 → 2018-02-28
EU contribution
€499,500
Participants
13
Scheme
MSCA-RISE

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Traffic Safety Cultures and the Safe Systems Approach – Towards a Cultural Change Research and Innovation Agenda for Road Safety

"The Traffic Safety Culture (TraSaCu) Project aimed at developing a cultural approach in road traffic safety research and accident prevention. Traditional approaches to traffic safety shall be complemented by a cultural perspective which has emerged recently in safety research and prevention. Safety culture has been identified as an important factor of road safety as it helps understanding and explaining the typical patterns of risk perception and risk taking that prevail in different national, regional or local traffic systems as well as their relationships with numbers and forms of accidents. A weak safety culture produces higher numbers of accidents which are more severe. A strong safety culture helps reducing the number of accidents as well as mitigating their severity. It strengthens safety relevant attitudes and behaviour and it is also a condition for making road safety measures more effective. The Overall aim of TraSaCu was to take up the concept of safety culture, which is well established e.g. in the US and in organisational safety research, and apply it to road safety in Europe. According to a working definition of the US Department of Transportation Safety Council (US DOT), traffic safety culture is defined as the shared values, actions, and behaviours that demonstrate a commitment to safety over competing goals and demands. Based on this definition a number of case studies of different traffic safety cultures were described and analysed across Europe by means of quantitative and qualitative methods. Research focused on the culturally mediated interaction between traffic participants and their environment in terms of the cultural patterns of risk taking and risk perception. It also looked at those cultural elements that can be changed easily in order to improve road safety of the investigated traffic systems. Furthermore, the practical relevance of the concept was highlighted by providing hands-on advice for road safety practicioners (""Action Framework"") on how to deal with defining, measuring, transforming and institutionalising Traffic Safety Culture, and how to design targeted interventions during this change process. This implementation strategy describes how a process of change can be geared into a specific historical and political situation and the obstacles and opportunities it offers. "

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Traffic Safety Culture (TraSaCu) aims at developing a cultural approach in road traffic safety research and accident prevention. Traditional approaches to traffic safety shall be complemented by a cultural perspective which has emerged recently in safety research and prevention. Safety culture has been identified as an important factor of road safety as it helps understanding and explaining the typical patterns of risk perception and risk taking that prevail in different national, regional or local traffic systems as well as their relationships with numbers and forms of accidents. A weak safety culture produce higher numbers of accidents which are more severe. A strong safety culture helps reducing the number of accidents as well as mitigating their severity. It strengthens safety relevant attitudes and behaviour and it is also a condition for making road safety measures more effective.According to a working definition of the US Department of Transportation Safety Council (US DOT), traffic safety culture is defined as the shared values, actions, and behaviours that demonstrate a commitment to safety over competing goals and demands. However, a unified concept of safety culture still does not exist. Therefore, the project will elaborate an empirically grounded and theoretically adequate concept of traffic safety culture, based on this definition by conducting a number of case studies of different traffic safety cultures across Europe. It focuses on the safety cultures that emerge under different institutional, demographic and topographical conditions and their influence on the numbers and forms of accidents. Research focuses on the culturally mediated interaction between traffic participants and their environment in terms of the cultural patterns of risk taking and risk perception. It also looks at those cultural elements that can be changed easily in order to improve road safety of the investigated traffic systems.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • KURATORIUM FUER VERKEHRSSICHERHEIT · WienCoordinatorAustria
  • AMRKS · PristinaKosovo
  • CO-PLAN INSTITUTI PER ZHVILLIMIN EHABIITATIT · TiranaAlbania
  • ELLINIKO INSTITOUTO EREVNAS KAI EKPAIDEFSIS GIA TIN ODIKI ASFALIA KAITIN PROLIPSI KAI TIN MIOSI TON TROCHAION ATICHIMATO PANOS MYLONAS · ATHINAGreece
  • MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY · AnkaraTürkiye
  • Montana State University Bozeman · BozemanUnited States
  • STICHTING WETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK VERKEERSVEILIGHEID SWOV · 'S-GRAVENHAGENetherlands
  • SUOMALAINEN LIIKENNETUTKIMUSKESKUS OY · HelsinkiFinland
  • TALLINNA TEHNIKAÜLIKOOL · TallinnEstonia
  • TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN · WienAustria
  • TELECOMMUNICATION AND COMPUTER NETWORKING TCN SHPK · TiranaAlbania
  • UNIVERSITETI POLIS SHPK · TiranaAlbania
  • VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY · Blacksburg VaUnited States

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union