In this paper, the author argues that new theories and models related to traffic safety are continuously being created. It may be a common belief that they express a free flow of expert thinking, but in fact they indicate timely paradigms representing common ideas of the safe flow of everyman's traffic. Accordingly, changes in the orientation of theories follow deeper changes in traffic culture. Such changes can be recognised as turning points of historical scrutiny. Four paradigmatic ideas, each of which has dominated thinking in their time, can be distinguished. At the beginning of the century, motorised traffic was perceived as a continuation of horse-driven traffic, horse carriages were merely replaced by motor vehicles. Thereafter, the idea of mastering the traffic situations by skilled drivers dominated decennia, then the idea of controlling risks in the traffic system gained a leading position, whereas the present paradigm underlines management of the transport system as a whole, the road transport and car traffic being only a part of it. The paradigms have guided traffic safety work, its targets, its measures, its funding, as well as orientations in research and theories. It may be interesting to guess what kind of paradigmatic changes could be expected in the future.
Abstract