Transportation Traffic Safety And Health

Modern society is, to a great extent, characterised by a tremendous growth in transportation -- the freedom to travel is a central and fundamental human value. As mobility has increased so have health problems. The number of fatalities and serious injuries caused by road traffic is unacceptable, and, while a downward trend is visible in most countries, there still remains a lot to be done. This collection of contributions by scientists and administrators presents some of the latest findings in the area of mobility and its relation to medical treatment, rehabilitation, public health and prevention.

In recognition of the importance of road safety as a major health issue, the World Health Organization has declared 2011-2021 the Decade of Safety Action. Several countries in Europe, North America, and Asia have been successful in reducing fatalities and injuries due to road traffic crashes. However, many low-income countries continue to experience high rates of traffic fatalities and injuries. Transport Planning and Traffic Safety: Making Cities, Roads, and Vehicles Safer offers a source book for road safety training courses as well as an introductory textbook for graduate-level courses on road safety taught in engineering institutes. It brings together the international experiences and lessons learned from countries which have been successful in reducing traffic crashes and their applicability in low-income countries. The content is based on lectures delivered during an international course on transportation planning and traffic safety, sponsored annually by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. The book is interdisciplinary and aimed at professionals—traffic and road engineers, vehicle designers, law enforcers, and transport planners. The authors examine trends in performance of OECD countries and highlight the public health and systems approach of traffic safety with the vulnerable road user in focus. Topics include land use (transportation planning, mobility, and safety), safety education and legislation, accident analysis, road safety research, human tolerance to injury, vehicle design, safety in construction zones, safety in urban areas, traffic calming, public transportation, safety laws and policies, and pre-hospital care of the injured.

Rodney E. Slater Secretary of Transportation, U. S. Department of Transportation know many of you have traveled great distances to be here. I To me, that shows not only your dedication to the cause, but demonstrates how very important transportation safety is becoming throughout the world. So I am very thankful to the main organizers of this third annual conference -- all of whom are from Sweden: Dr. Hans von Holst of the Royal Institute of Technology; Dr. Ake Nygren of the Karolinska Institute; Dr. Ake E. Andersson of the Institute for Futures Studies; and finally, Dr. Arne Witt16v and Lars Anell from AB Volvo. And let me give a special welcome to our friends from Africa. I will be visiting a number of African nations in January. And while my main mission is to promote trade and investment with the United States, we will be talking about safety, too. Airline safety, for example, is a big concern, as Africa grows and prospers and the demand for air travel expands. We discussed it during recent meetings of the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal several weeks ago. And we will do so again during my trip. plan to talk about how my department can help the Also, we many nations of Africa improve highway safety. Africa relies heavily on road transportation. But highway fatalities are very high. And the economic costs are very steep, especially for Africa's fragile, emerging v market economies.

The focus of this book is to present the latest aspects in the area of human behavior and its relation to planning of an optimal traffic safety. The contributions from authors in various disciplines such as scientists, medical practitioners, administrators and practitioners from the car industry examine how road-user behavior can cause accidents and how decision-makers from various sectors of society may influence road users' behavior. The development of modern vehicles and new traffic systems requires more sophisticated behavior and technology. New medical technologies such as improved neuropsychologic methods and descriptive mapping of behavior with imaging techniques facilitate the understanding of the anatomy and physiology of human behavior. The increased knowledge of normal and pathologic behavior contributes to strenghten primary prevention with the goal of reducing traffic accidents.

Hans von Holst Royal Institute of Technology, WHO Collaborating Center, Sweden Ake Nygren Karolinska Institute, WHO Collaborating Center, Sweden Ake E. Andersson Institute for Futures Studies, Sweden n a recent study initiated by Harvard University, World Bank and I World Health Organization it was concluded that road injuries will be ranked from number 9 today to number 3 within the next two to three decades if authorities all over the world do not pay more attention to this significant problem. Injuries in traffic do not only concern the patient himself but also the relatives from an emotional point of view and the society from a socio economic point. Both emerging markets and industrial countries have significant experi ence of the events following a traffic accident. Much effort has been directed towards transportation of the victim from the scene of the accident to intensive care unit in the hospital. Simultaneously, the awareness of our knowledge about how these injuries should be prevented is striking. The focus of this second book of transportation, traffic safety and health is to further present some of the latest aspects in the area of mobility and its rela tion to planning of an optimal traffic safety with respect to our present knowl edge in the field. The volume contains a collection of contributions presented of scientists, clinicians and administrators at The Second International Conference on Transportation, Traffic Safety and Health, held in Brussels, Belgium, 1996.

This book provides traffic safety researchers and practitioners with an international and multi-disciplinary compendium of theoretical and methodological concepts relevant to the research and application of Traffic Safety Culture aiming towards a vision of zero traffic fatalities.