Road Safety culture development for substantial road trauma reduction : Can the experience of the state of Victoria , Australia , be applied to achieve road safety improvement in North America ? Eric

The State of Victoria, Australia has improved its road safety performance substantially in the periods 1989 to 1992 and since 2001. The lessons learned from this experience suggest that mechanisms by which governments and communities can achieve improved road safety outcomes are not well understood and have received little research attention. A clear recognition and understanding of principles and processes which will assist change are fundamentally important if new countermeasure proposals are to achieve community acceptance over time. Proponents of change need to be well equipped if their ideas are to negotiate the difficult course of public debate and bring about greater acceptance (albeit, often incrementally) in public attitudes.