Road (un)safety constitutes one of the major threats to human health in our present-day society. Yet, in many local administrations in Flanders (Belgium), mobility policymaking is of an ad hoc nature, despite the well-intended efforts of motivated and dedicated officials. The innovative instrument that has been generated in this study aims at giving local authorities the opportunity to self-assess their organization and performances with respect to mobility policymaking in a fairly simple and straightforward, but scientifically underpinned fashion. The Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy was adopted as a frame of reference for the development of this tool. The primary goals of the instrument are to gain thorough insight into current municipal mobility policymaking practices in Flanders on a selected number of essential strategic policy domains, to point out the potential advantages of TQM for local authorities, to enable municipal policymakers to approach their day-to-day activities from a more integral perspective, to ameliorate the collaboration between stakeholders and to provide them with comprehensive support and guidance. Results show that objectively monitoring performances is not common practice in Flemish (mobility) policymaking. Furthermore, it has become apparent that soft road safety policy measures (e.g. sensitization and education) are to a large extent left unaccounted for by municipal administrations, whereas they seem to be doing rather well at identifying users’ and residents’ needs. A major issue in current mobility policymaking practices in Flanders is the missing framework for structural data-collection and administration. In addition, it was found that local mobility administration policy is strongly budget-driven, implying that financially stimulated and highly visible projects are much more popular than structural modifications ‘behind the scenes’. This provides the higher authority with an opportunity to divert local mobility actions in to the direction of a sustainable transportation system (including social, economic and environmental targets) by means of purposive subsidies. Collaboration between the crucial actors at the local level and information interchange with higher levels of authority and other municipalities is key to ensure long-term improvements. Truly devoted and motivated actors with an open view and continuity in policy programs are essential in the pursuit of a safer transportation system at the municipal level. It is important to realize that it is not necessary for every local administration to aspire the highest level of development straight ahead. Surely, to continuously look for actions of improvement and to evolve stepwise towards an integral level of local mobility policymaking requires a lot of effort, energy and resources, but it is critical to ensure the quality of life of future generations. (Author/publisher)
Abstract