Moving America Towards Evidence-Based Approaches to Traffic Safety

Deaths and injuries resulting from motor vehicles receive relatively little attention and few resources in the United States. For example, while the National Institutes of Health boasts institutes that focus on kidney diseases, hearing disorders, and dental research, no institute is dedicated to the leading cause of death for Americans aged 1 to 45: injuries. Motor vehicle crashes contribute the lion's share of these fatalities. In recent years, the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety have all contributed to efforts aimed at raising the profile of traffic safety in the minds of policy makers and the lay public. Still it is relatively rare that public voices are raised out of concern for traffic safety, and when they are, they usually call for increased punishment of "guilty" drivers or for awareness campaigns that are not based upon any scientific foundation. What has led to this state of affairs? Some suggestions can be found in bodies of scientific literature that may be unfamiliar to the traffic safety community. This article will summarize some of these findings and propose how they might be applied to advancing traffic safety promotion.

• Record URL:
  • https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ImprovingTrafficSafetyCultureinUSReport.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

  607 14th Street, NW, Suite 201
  Washington, DC    20005
• Authors:
  • Girasek, Deborah C
• Publication Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 130-148
• Monograph Title: Improving Traffic Safety Culture in the United States - The Journey Forward

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Awareness; Crash injuries; Fatalities; Injuries; Promotion; Public opinion; Science; Traffic crashes; Traffic safety
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I80: Accident Studies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01051440
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 14 2007 11:55AM