Good the bad and the ugly: perception as a key feature in road safety

Abstract

Concern about the level of lawlessness and the lack of discipline among South African drivers is prominent among South African authorities, media and public. Although South Africa historically did conduct research into road user behaviour, most of it is irrelevant in the current context and one would argue that researchers in this field will have to return to the drawing board “to start all over again”. The objective of this paper is to assess the role that the psychological trait “perception” plays in road safety. Research pertaining to human factors in crash causation is a relatively new field of research for specifically modern day South Africa. Research related to the psychology of road users and the influences thereof should be understood within a psycho-social and behavioural context. Only when root causes are understood can the information be used to inform, design and implement the use of “visible” approaches, such as traffic calming, enforcement strategies and education or mass media campaigns.