Comparing national road safety culture among bus drivers in Norway and Ghana

The study compares national road safety culture (RSC) among bus drivers in Norway and Ghana, based on bus driver survey data in the two countries (n=285 and 281), interview data (n=11 and 19) and field work. The point of departure is the very different road safety contexts in the two countries; with Norway being a high-income country with the best road safety level in the world, and Ghana as a low-income country with a far higher road fatality rate than Norway. We compare national RSC in the two countries, to examine factors that might explain the different levels of road fatalities. Our results indicate an RSC with more traffic violations, especially aggressive violations, among drivers in Ghana than in Norway. We also find a relationship between RSC and road safety violations, and between road safety violations and accident involvement. Thus, our study indicates that national RSC is important, as it is related to road safety violations, which in turn is related to accident involvement. Interview data indicates that the bus drivers in Ghana describe the traffic they typically drive in as “hectic”, “stressful” and “bad”. We suggest that this may be related to factors influencing road user interaction, e.g. overcrowded roads during rush-hours due to insufficient capacity and poor road infrastructure. Fieldwork data indicate a more chaotic traffic environment in Ghana than in Norway, at least in urban settings, with a road system that is less in line with safe system principles, and a higher tolerance of risk.