PROTOCOL: Effectiveness of road safety interventions: An evidence and gap map

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Transportation Safety
• Injury Prevention

Background:

• The UN's Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020) aimed to decrease road traffic injuries (RTI).
• While vehicle safety standards are often agreed upon, evidence-based interventions in road design, enforcement, and post-crash care are lacking.
• Counterintuitive results in traffic safety research are common, often due to studies measuring intermediate outcomes instead of actual injury reductions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create an evidence and gap map (EGM) of road safety interventions globally.
• To assess the effectiveness of interventions based on reducing traffic crash injuries.
• To guide resource allocation towards proven road safety strategies and inform future research.

Main Methods:

• The EGM systematically reviewed studies across all countries in the road safety sector.
• Interventions were categorized into five key areas: human factors, vehicle factors, road design, post-crash care, and legal/institutional frameworks.
• Effectiveness was primarily measured by the impact on traffic crash injuries.

Main Results:

• A comprehensive overview of existing road safety knowledge and intervention effectiveness worldwide was compiled.
• The map highlights the need to focus on interventions with measurable impacts on injury reduction.
• Identified gaps in evidence for specific intervention types and geographical regions.

Conclusions:

• Effective road safety strategies require evidence of impact on actual crash injuries.
• This mapping provides crucial data for program managers to prioritize effective interventions.
• Informing targeted research commissioning is essential for advancing global road safety efforts.