The influence of fairness and ethical trade-offs on public support for road safety measures

The research questions of this thesis are: ‘When is a road safety policy measure fair?’ and ‘Which factors influence the support for road safety policy measures?’. The core approach used to address these research questions was to present citizens, experts and policy-makers with contentious measures in road safety and identify the factors associated with their views on these measures. Three complementary methods were used: a global analysis of the associations between national indicators, in-depth interviews with experts and policy-makers in five countries, and an online survey of a representative sample of adults in ten countries. An original scheme has been developed for categorizing arguments in favour and against policy measures. The research undertaken has led to a better understanding and operationalisation of fairness. A (road safety) policy measure is perceived as fair if it is equitable, not restricting human liberties, relevant and feasible to implement. Perceiving a measure to be fair is indicative but not sufficient for supporting it. Many factors influence public support for policy measures. The level of support for policy measures in road safety differs strongly between countries, and is associated with the level of economic development and national culture. When road safety performance is relatively high and societies are individualistic, the opposition against new measures tends to be higher. Important factors influencing public support are beliefs concerning the importance of the problem which the measure is intended to address, the expected consequences, and the confidence that the measure can be implemented effectively. Individuals’ support for a policy measure is strongly associated with the social norm, i.e. the belief that their friends would support that measure. Recommendations are made for further research on fairness and support for measures, as well as for improvement of policy-making in road safety.