Sharing road safety education and enforcement knowledge and practice throughout developing nations - challenges create opportunities!

Abstract

This paper presents a practitioner’s perspective of implementing road safety strategies in low and middle-income countries. It identifies a gap in traffic law enforcement capability and describes professional development train the trainer programs to build capacity. The costs and benefits of road safety reform are raised in conjunction with the need to provide adequate funding to support the behavioural change of drivers. Understanding the challenges of piecemeal reform, policing capability, corruption and under-reporting of crashes provides opportunities to use this knowledge to impact behavioural change and road trauma reduction. The findings confirm education and enforcement as a successful methodology for reform as well as the need to create the perception of certainty of being caught and punished when breaking the law.