Abstract
The UK has one of the safest road systems of any country, yet road traffic accidents still represent the 12th leading cause of death. Although casualty and fatality rates have dropped dramatically since the 1980s, there has been little change in the past five years or so, suggesting that roads safety initiatives have plateaued in their effectiveness. Following calls for a new approach to the challenge we adopt a sociotechnical systems viewpoint. Traditionally, road safety has been addressed through the three ‘E’s of engineering, education, and enforcement; we have added to these with an additional four ‘E’s, namely economics, emergency response, enablement, and ergonomics. We use the Actor Map representation, the first step in the Accimap approach to accident analysis, to model the road transport system, with the resulting diagram giving an indication of the level of complexity we must face when designing road safety interventions. The research presented in this article represents the first step in a broader project that takes a sociotechnical approach to global road safety, involving partners in five geographically dispersed, and economically, developmentally, and culturally distinct nations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ahangari H, Atkinson-Palombo C, Garrick NW (2017) Automobile-dependency as a barrier to vision zero, evidence from the states in the USA. Accid Anal Prev 107:77–85
Amos L, Davies D, Fosdick T (2015) Road Safety Since 2010. PACTS & RAC Foundation, London
Arzberger P, Schroeder P, Beaulieu A, Bowker G, Casey K, Laaksonen L, Moorman D, Uhlir P, Wouter P (2004) An international framework to promote access to data. Science 303:1777–1778
Balikuddembe JK, Ardalan A, Khorasani-Zavareh D, Nejati A, Kasiima S (2017) Factors affecting the exposure, vulnerability and emergency medical service capacity for victims of road traffic incidents in Kampala metropolitan area: a Delphi study. BMC Emergency Medicine, 17, no pagination
Bishai D, Asiimwe B, Abbas S, Hyder AA, Bazeyo W (2008) Cost-effectiveness of traffic enforcement: case study from Uganda. Injury Prev 14:223–227
Brake (2017) Annual Report 2015. Brake, Huddersfield, UK
Bristol City Council (2015) A safe systems approach to road safety in Bristol. Bristol City Council, Bristol, UK
Broughton J, Knowles J (2010) Providing the numerical context for British casualty reduction targets. Saf Sci 48:1134–1141
Ciaburro T, Spencer J (2017) UK road safety seizing the opportunities safe roads. Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, London
Clark DE, Winchell RJ, Betensky RA (2013) Estrimating the effect of emergency care on early survival after traffic crashes. Accid Anal Prev 60:141–147
DfT (2016) Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2015 Annual Report. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/568484/rrcgb-2015.pdf. Accessed 16 Mar 2018
DfT (2017) Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2016 Annual Report. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668504/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-2016-complete-report.pdf. Accessed 16 Mar 2018
European Commisison (2016) Post-impact care. Summary 2016. European Road Safety Observatory. https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/sites/roadsafety/files/ersosynthesis2016-summary-postimpactcare5_en.pdf. Accessed 28 Sep 2017
Heinrich HW (1931) Industrial accident prevention: a scientific approach. McGraw-Hill, New York
House of Commons Transport Committee (2017) Road traffic law enforcement. Second Report of Session 2015–16. The Stationary Office, London
Gains A, Noerdstrum N, Heydecker B, Shrewsbury J (2005) The national safety camera programme. Four-Year evaluation report. Department for Transport, London
Janssen M, Charalabidis Y, Zuiderwijk A (2012) Benefits, adoption barriers, and myths of open government. Inf Syst Manag 29:258–268
Lydell R (2017) Exposed: London’s most prolific speed camera which has raised £1.5 m in six months. Evening Standard, Tuesday the 3rd of January. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/exposed-londons-most-prolific-speed-camera-which-has-raised-15m-in-six-months-a3431156.html. Accessed 27 Sep 2017
Newnam S, Goode N (2015) Do not blame the driver: a systems analysis of the causes of road freight crashes. Accid Anal Prev 76:141–151
NHS (2016) Major Trauma Canters in England October 2016. https://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/Emergencyandurgentcareservices/Documents/2016/MTS-map.pdf. Accessed 30 Oct 2017
Noland RB, Quddus MA (2004) Improvements in medical care and technology and reductions in traffic-related fatalities in Great Britain. Accid Anal Prev 36:103–113
ONS (2017) Death registration and summary tables – England and Wales. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathregistrationssummarytablesenglandandwalesreferencetables. Accessed 25 Sep 2017
PACTS (2017) Safe System. http://www.pacts.org.uk/safe-system/. Accessed 6 Sep 2017
Parnell KJ, Stanton NA, Plant KL (2017) What’s the law got to do with it? Legislation regarding in-vehicle technology use and its impact on driver distraction. Accid Anal Prev 100:1–14
Peden M, Scurfield R, Sleet D, Mohan D, Hyder AA, Jarawan E, Mather C (2004) World report on road traffic injury prevention. World Health Organisation, Geneva
Pilkington P (2003) Speed cameras under attack in the United Kingdom. Injury Prev 9:293–294
Rasmussen J (1997) Risk management in a dynamic society: A modelling problem. Saf Sci 27:183–213
Razzak JA, Kellermann AL (2002) Emergency medical care in developing countries: is it worthwhile? Bull World Health Organ 80:900–905
Salmon PM, Read GJM, Stanton NA, Lenné MG (2013) The crash at Kerang: investigating systemic and psychological factors leading to unintentional non-compliance at rail level crossings. Accid Anal Prev 50:1278–1288
Sánchez-Mangas R, García-Ferrera A, de Juan A, Martín Arroyo A (2010) The probability of death in road traffic accidents. How important is a quick medical response? Accid Anal Prev 42:1048–1056
Scott-Parker B, Goode N, Salmon P (2015) The driver, the road, the rules… and the rest? A system-based approach to young driver road safety. Accid Anal Prev 75:297–305
Trist EL (1953) Some observations on the machine face as a socio-technical system. Tavistock Documents Series, London
The University of Manchester (2015) Review of major trauma networks reveals increase in patient survival rates. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/article/?id=14891. Accessed 30 Oct 2017
WHO (2015) Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015. World Health Organisation, Geneva
WHO (2017a) The top 10 causes of death. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/. Accessed 25 Sep 2017
WHO (2017b) Decade of action. http://www.who.int/roadsafety/decade_of_action/. Accessed 29 Sep 2017
Funding
This research was commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research using Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
McIlroy, R.C., Plant, K.L., Stanton, N.A. (2019). Revealing the Complexity of Road Transport with Accimaps. In: Bagnara, S., Tartaglia, R., Albolino, S., Alexander, T., Fujita, Y. (eds) Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 823. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96074-6_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96074-6_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96073-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96074-6
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)