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Abstract
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This paper discusses subjectivity in road design guidelines, and examples of it within practice from the perspective of a professional road safety auditor.
Subjectivity was alluded to when linking crash interventions and contributing factors within a recent study (Doecke et al, 2020). This paper acknowledged that subjectivity was present even amongst a panel of experts advising on a link derived from an 'evidence base'. This inspired an examination of subjectivity within road safety and traffic engineering, how it is discussed in common road guidelines, and how it manifests within a practitioner's assessment.
'Subjective' refers to personal feelings, tastes, ideas and opinions, and is often described as the opposite of 'objective'; clear-cut with a universal truth.
The word 'subjective' appears 47 times within Austroads' Guides to Traffic Management, Road Design and Road Safety (all parts and series combined). As a comparison, another non-empirical term, 'judgement', appears 169 times. Of the 47 appearances of 'subjective', approximately half (23) did not refer to road design/road safety engineers, but described 'local community opinions' (AGTM 8) and 'driver subjective risk' (AGRS8). The majority of the remaining 24 described designer considerations...
Language: en |