SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

In a large scale experiment that was carried out in the two Dutch towns Rijswijk and Eindhoven, the residents were asked to express their feelings of safety and their opinions about safety problems and countermeasures. In an inquiry, preceding the reconstruction, it was shown that residents were not able to locate the accident black-spots. After the reconstruction residents regarded their neighbourhood less safe than before. Primarily the areas around the traffic zones are regarded as unsafe. In general, the complaints concerned speed, complexity of the situations, and the existence of sneaking traffic after the reconstructions. The negative feelings were directed at traffic, more than to other aspects of cultural and social life. There were positive reactions with regard to speed humps, pedestrian crossings, one-way traffic and cycling lanes. However, many residents complained about solutions that were praised by others, so there is a lot of disagreement. Also the relation between feelings and opinions that have been expressed by residents and the behaviour they show, is somewhat controversial. For instance, children are allowed to play outside to the same extent as before, although more locations are regarded as dangerous and forbidden. Furthermore, the answers to various questions do not seem very consistent. This may be partly due to the way of questioning. 60% of the residents cannot name the safety measures that have been taken in their own neighbourhood. These facts are not caused by lack of information, because a lot of publicity has been given to the experiment. One may conclude that, although the feelings of and opinions about traffic safety as such express an aspect of the quality of the traffic system, they can hardly be used to evaluate traffic safety as such.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contribution to: Biecheler, M.B.; Lacombe, C and Muehlrad, N. (ed.). "Evaluation 85", International Meeting on the Evaluation of local traffic safety measures, Paris, 20-23 Mai 1985, Tome 2, pp 423-427. ONSER, Paris, 1985.
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute for Road Safety Research, SWOV

  Bezuidenhoutseweg 62
  The Hague,   Netherlands  2594 AW
• Authors:
  • KRAAY, J H
  • Oppe, S
• Publication Date: 1985

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 12 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Countermeasures; Public opinion; Public participation; Residential areas; Safety; Traffic safety
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00453182
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: R-85-13, HS-039 347
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Feb 28 1986 12:00AM