Vulnerable road users through safe systems lenses? Perspectives from transport professionals in Ghana on pedestrians and motorcyclists

Abstract

The problem of road traffic crashes is more acute in low- and middle-income countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which exhibits the worst regional death rates per population in the world. Vulnerable road users (VRUs) constitute a significant proportion of road traffic casualties across the region. The provision of a safe transport system to address this problem is crucial to the socio-economic development of SSA. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge of transport professionals in Ghana relating to the complex safety issues of VRUs within the context of the Safe Systems approach and to explore how the local context could guide its implementation. The study used an online survey to collect relevant information from transport professionals on their understanding of the Safe Systems approach and used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize countermeasures for two types of VRUs: pedestrians and motorcyclists. The findings from the study revealed that for pedestrians, transport professionals were more concerned with the enforcement of pedestrian laws by the law enforcement agencies followed by outreach and educational programs for the pedestrians. Whereas for motorcyclists, enforcement of motorcyclist laws and education were priority countermeasures proposed by the transport professionals.