Road Safety Culture and the Safe System: Comparing Beliefs and Behaviours in African and European Countries

The study compares national road safety culture (RSC) in three European countries—Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands—which are widely recognized as leaders in Safe System implementation and have maintained the world’s best road safety records for several years, with three African countries with poorer road safety records—Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia. The primary focus is on continental-level comparisons, to identify the elements of RSC where we see the biggest differences between the African and the European countries. The study is based on survey data collected from car drivers and pedestrians (n = 3772), interviews (n = 46) and fieldwork. The study is explorative, as it examines four different RSC elements. This is important, as there are few other studies comparing RSC across African and European countries, including several transport modes. The elements of RSC where we see the biggest differences between the African and the European countries are: (a) fatalistic beliefs about road safety and (b) the social valuation of walking as a mode of transport, compared with motorized transport. The fatalistic beliefs are related to road safety violations, which in turn are related to accident involvement. Thus, influencing fatalistic beliefs regarding road safety, and increasing the cultural valuation of walking and pedestrians are likely to improve road safety in the African countries. Finally, interviewees in the African countries pointed to corruption as a potential factor impeding the efficiency of enforcement. We have not measured this, but future studies of RSC should also include beliefs and practices related to corruption, as these are likely to be related to the level of road violations.