It is a world wide known phenomenon that road traffic safety in most developing countries compares unfavourably with most of the highly mobilized and developed countries. It is furthermore known that the low fatality rates in developed countries are inter alia the results of purposefully directed contributions in the fields of training and education made by academic institutions and or safety centers. This paper aims at describing the role of such an academic division, center or unit in the enhancement of road traffic safety education in a developing country. Arguments are put forward that efforts to promote road traffic safety through educational programmes purposefully can only be successful if the programmes are educationally and scientifically sound. In order to meet this requirement, programmes should be well designed, implemented, continuously evaluated and adapted in the light of practical experiences and theoretical knowledge. With the view to promote road traffic safety within its total context this paper endeavours to picture the input that should be made by an academic division or center in order to give direction to the basic aims of road traffic safety education. (A) The french title of this paper is `Role du professeur et son influence : la tâche d'une division académique pour l'éducation en prévention routière dans un pays en développement'. The german title of this paper is `Rolle und Führerschaft des Fahrers : die Aufgabe einer akademischen Abteilung für Verkehrserziehung in einem Entwicklungsland'.
Abstract