Road safety in less motorised countries: Potential for, and limitations of, transfer of experiences from motorised countries

Less motorised countries have road crash rates which are considerably higher than those of motorised countries, and efforts have been made to address their road safety problems by applying experiences gained during the motorisation of Western countries. This paper reports on the mixed results which have sometimes been obtained, and explores the cultural, social and economic context of road use in less motorised countries. It is proposed that a more studied approach needs to be taken to the transfer of the experiences of highly motorised countries, combining a greater awareness of cultural, social and economic issues with different approaches to the identification and treatment of road safety issues