Inquiry into Violence Associated with Motor Vehicle Use

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Inquiry into Violence Associated with Motor
Vehicle Use

• Dr Jan Garrard, Senior Lecturer
• School of Health and Social Development, Deakin
  University

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Road rage A population change approach

• A whole of population approach to prevention of
  health social problems
• In contrast to approaches that target high risk
  individuals or situations
• Addresses the determinants of the problem (why do
  different societies vary?)
• Uses strategies designed to change whole
  populations

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Assumptions underlying the population strategy of
prevention

• Variation in driver aggression for individuals
  within a population follows a continuous unimodal
  distribution
• Road rage comprises the extreme upper tail of
  the distribution of aggression
• For a population, these distributions are
  socially, culturally and environmentally
  determined
• Different populations have different
  distributions of driver aggression

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Evidence for the population strategy of prevention

• Good evidence for a range of health variables
  (including mental health and alcohol harm) (Rose
  1992)
• No direct evidence for driver aggression
• Some indirect evidence

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Aggressive driver behaviourAustralia compared
with European Union (average of 15 member
countries)(Source EOS Gallup Europe 2004)
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Implications of the population strategy of
prevention

• Aggressive driving cultures are amenable to
  change
• The population approach seeks to shift the whole
  population in a favourable direction
• When effective population-wide strategies are
  implemented, the benefits come about in two ways
• The number of people in the highly aggressive
  upper tail of the distribution (ie road rage)
  is likely to decrease
• The overall harm is also reduced because a large
  number of mildly or moderately aggressive drivers
  are slightly less aggressive

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An example of a population strategy to reduce
violence

• A social experiment in Bogotá, Colombia
• A city choked with violence, lawless traffic,
  corruption, and gangs of street children who
  mugged and stole
• Mayor Antanas Mockus implemented a range of
  creative, often humorous strategies
• Homicide rates declined from 80 per 100,000
  inhabitants in 1993 to 22 per 100,000 in 2003
• Traffic fatalities dropped by more than half
• Water consumption dropped, public transport use
  increased, driver behaviour improved (including
  Bogotá's mean taxi drivers)

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Driver aggression and vulnerable road users
(cyclists, pedestrians)

• Aggressive driver behaviour is responsible for a
  range of social harms
• Evidence suggests that aggressive drivers are
  more likely to be involved in crashes
  (preliminary multivariate analysis of AAMI 2003
  Crash Index data)
• Increased risk of harm associated with driver
  aggression (including threat of harm) likely to
  differentially impact on cyclists and pedestrians
• Reducing driver aggression likely to support
  active transport (cycling, walking), a
  component of government policies to reduce
  obesity and greenhouse gas emissions, and improve
  social connectedness and urban environments

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Recommendations

• Consider implementing a multi-component,
  population strategy to reduce driver aggression
  (in addition to strategies targeting high risk
  individuals and behaviours)
• Consider the use of humour and the arts perhaps
  build on Melbournes reputation as the worlds
  most liveable city (and rural regional
  equivalents)

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