Public health and road safety : an exploration of external influences. This report deals with the relation between the sectors of public health and road safety. These sectors are closely connected through various themes. The most important themes are discussed in this study, and can be divided into four groups. The first group contains general themes such as recent developments and prevention. They outline the public health situation and provide a framework for this report. The second group consists of a number of themes in which there is a regular contact between the two sectors at present: the Elderly, Disorders, Alcohol & Drugs. These themes provide the traditional links between these two sectors. The third group contains a number of environmental themes: Healthy Mobility (i.e. walking or cycling), Emissions & Noise Nuisance. At present, road safety is not very active in these fields; it would be interesting to achieve a connection with these themes. The fourth group is formed by themes that are clearly those of Public Health: Post-crash care, Traffic Injuries. Road safety could increase its knowledge in these areas. These themes deal with the situation when preventative road safety policy has not had the desired effect. It is important for road safety to be, and to remain, well informed about the developments in these themes This study poses four research questions: 1. Which public health developments that could influence road safety developments have occurred in the past, and will do so in the long term? 2. Which current public health developments now influence current road safety? 3. Which opportunities and threats to road safety do these developments present? 4. How can the results of this peripheral exploration be fed back to public health and road safety policy? In the public health sector, there are many different current and long term developments that can influence road safety. Examples are the increased life expectancy and the quality of medical care. In most cases this is difficult to quantify; therefore developments and their possible consequences are usually described qualitatively. With regard to opportunities and threats, we especially found opportunities in the themes of popst-crash care and international developments. There are several possibilities for benefits in post-crash care; international developments show an increased attention of public health for road safety. Threats, for example, are found in the area of risk acceptance; i.e. the relatively low risk perception for road safety compared with other problem areas, and also in post-crash care, if the possible improvements do not take place. With regard to policy, connections with organizations in other sectors can strengthen the road safety lobby. Within public health there is a wide range of developments and actors who can function as links for these connections. With regard to feedback from the road safety sector to public health, a more concrete structure of possible connections can be the subject of further discussion, within SWOV to start with, of course followed by discussion with other relevant organizations. In carrying out this exploration we have gained knowledge about social processes and trends in relation to mobility, about risk in traffic, and about injury severity. In due course, when we know the results of other explorations of external influences, the picture will be more complete.
Samenvatting