Improving traffic safety: conceptual considerations for successful action

In the early stages of motorization, it did not take rigorous scientific research to achieve major improvements in traffic safety. Instead, early traffic-safety countermeasures were often based exclusively on common sense. Since then, scientific research has gradually increased in importance as the basis for developing successful interventions. This shift was not made by choice but mostly by necessity: many of the "easy" problems have already been addressed, and the remaining problems are generally too complex for an approach based solely on common sense. Fortunately, our understanding of the complexities involved in traffic safety has recently made major gains, and common sense can now be supplemented, to some degree, by valid technical analysis.

This article discusses major conceptual issues that should be considered in guiding the future development of effective, science-based traffic-safety countermeasures.

After briefly discussing the conceptual issues, the article offers a list of implications for action.