Citation

Williams AF, Haworth N. ITE J. 2007; 77(6): 24-31.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Institute of Transportation Engineers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper compares the highway safety culture of Australia, which has overcome many of the barriers to achieving an effective highway safety culture, and the United States, which has a comparatively weaker safety culture. In the United States, the combination of the low priority accorded to the highway safety problem and the attribution of the problem to "other" drivers has led to limited funding and misdirected resources for improving highway safety. In Australia, governments have been more willing to intervene to protect people's safety and to devote the necessary funds for safety endeavors. The Australian public is also more accepting of government interventions, in part because of intensive community education efforts regarding highway safety. Based on this assessment, several steps are recommended for creating a better-functioning traffic safety culture in the United States.