A public health approach to assessing road safety equity - The RoSE cycle

Davis, Adrian; Pilkington, Paul

Abstract

This chapter focuses on equity goals relating primarily to the reduction of adverse effects of the transport system, particularly road traffic collisions (RTCs), with a strong emphasis on the protection of vulnerable population groups. It describes the current equity issues relating to deaths and injuries on the road, from the global to national and then local. However, the chapter challenges a reductive approach to the assessment of equity in relation to transport interventions designed, at least in part, to reduce collisions. The authors argue that an approach that seeks to address not only injury outcomes, but also other equity issues, is a fairer method of evaluating the true impact of transport interventions on road danger-related equity outcomes. A road safety equity (RoSE) cycle approach is proposed. The case for this approach is made through the examination of a case study in the UK city of Bristol, where a “road danger reduction” approach has been pursued since the year 2012. This approach has involved the creation of 20 mph speed limits across the city. Importantly, the aim of this transport intervention, and of the overall approach, was to not only reduced deaths and injuries on the road, but also to encourage greater levels of active travel (such as walking and cycling), play, and improved general feelings of health and well-being among the resident population. This intervention itself is located within a broader ambition of a Safe Systems Road Safety Plan reflecting still broader public policy ambitions. Safe Systems is a practical tool for introducing an ethical dimension—that life and limb should no longer be sacrificed for mobility—and that the aim must be for zero fatalities and life-changing injuries. The approach recognizes that road risk is a combination of road infrastructure, vehicle, and individual behavior, and that casualties are a result of a systems failure.

• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Measuring Transport Equity
• ISBN: 9780128148181
• Keywords: road safety, equity, public health, road danger reduction
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/846233
• Publisher URL: https://www.elsevier.com/books/measuring-transport-equity/lucas/978-0-12-814818-1