Road users' attitudes to some road safety and transportation issues

The Department of Transport's publication entitled `Road safety: the next steps', published in 1987 (see IRRD 809779), identified a need for regularly conducted public opinion surveys, to acquire more information on public attitudes to road safety. In this report the findings of a national survey designed to obtain road user's attitudes and beliefs about a wide variety of road safety and transportation issues are presented. A questionnaire was sent to a representative sample of 3,000 people aged over 16 in march 1990. Issues covered include: the level of concern about the risks associated with driving; perceived relative safety of different modes of transport; perceptions about the causes of road accidents; beliefs about standards of driving; attitudes to speed limits and drinking and driving; views on driver training and testing; reported seat belt wearing and perceived effectiveness; and attitudes to a range of possible new countermeasures. In general the results showed a high degree of concern for road safety issues and identified a number of areas where road users consider that some improvements are possible. Detailed findings are reported and discussed.