Attitudes to walking and cycling
In: Sustainable Transport, S. 210-223
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In: Sustainable Transport, S. 210-223
In: Social Sciences, Band 8, Heft 2, S. 47
ISSN: 2076-0760
To reduce car usage, several strategies are needed, one of which focuses on social psychological factors. The aim of this study was to predict and explain bus usage using the theory of planned behaviour and the transtheoretical model of change in a sample of 983 residents. The study also evaluated the effect of providing a group of regular car users (n = 34) with a free travel pass, to be used on busses and trains in the region. A regression analysis showed that the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) explained 26% of the variance in intention to use the bus, increasing to 59% when past behaviour was added. The use of the free travel pass resulted in a more positive attitude towards bus usage, with a large number having either changed or having started to change their behaviour. When the same people were contacted three months later, 50% still used public transport. The conclusion is that negative attitudes and travel habits can be altered by experience. Although, a reduction of car use can only be achieved if several measures are implemented that make car driving less attractive and sustainable modes of transport more attractive.
This report is based on the results obtained from two questionnaire studies carried out during 1999 and 2007. The aim of the studies is to increase our knowledge about the attitudes and approach of the police to traffic safety work and how these attitudes have changed with time. In the first study 729 randomly chosen police officers completed the questionnaire and in the second 1,022. The results show that the basic attitude among the police towards traffic surveillance has become more positive. The attitudes towards the directives from the governing bodies and their ability to participate in decision making have improved slightly from the first measurement to the second measurement. However, it is characteristic that a fairly large proportion still is dissatisfied with the same. The attitude of the police towards their own reporting of accidents has not changed appreciably at all. On the other hand, the understanding that a certain amount of statistics shall be reported is slightly greater in 2007 than in 1999. The attitudes towards automatic surveillance have strongly improved although a well-visible policeman is still advocated. The need to reinforce the surveillance of professional traffic is considered to be greater in 2007 than in 1999. According to the police, the attitude amongst the public towards speeding offences has become more negative than it was before. Nevertheless, a relatively high proportion still believes that it is a relatively minor offence. In 2006, the tolerance level for speeding offences was lowered at the same time as the fines for traffic offences were raised markedly. The results of the questionnaire show that the police are neutral towards whether or not these measures will influence the public's acceptance of the traffic safety work, which could indicate that they have not yet defined their attitude regarding the question. More than half of all police officers in 2007 do not believe that the public are aware of the possibility of having a time for consideration with respect to the acceptance of a fine for a breach of regulations. Finally the results show that in 2007, more controls were carried out than before. The most important conclusions that can be drawn from these results are that the police have developed a more positive attitude towards the traffic safety work and that, at the same time, more traffic controls are being carried out. But there are also many who still do not feel that they are able to influence their work. Furthermore, many are dissatisfied with the governing body's directives regarding traffic safety work. Such a dissatisfaction can influence the psycho-social work environment and the motivation for carrying out good work, but concretely the results show that such a dissatisfaction influences, both directly and indirectly, how many traffic controls one carries out.
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Cycling in rural areas is different from cycling in urban areas in that speeds of motorised vehicles are usually higher, and the interactions with other traffic almost exclusively consist of encountering oncoming traffic or being overtaken at the discretion of other traffic. Most cycling related research and politics focus on urban areas and the acquired knowledge cannot always be transferred to rural areas. The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the literature focusing on cycling in rural areas mainly with respect to safety, comfort, adequacy for cycling, and barriers and enablers for cycling. Findings and results are presented and discussed by topic, followed by a higher-level discussion focusing on issues and possibilities for increased and safe cycling. This also includes an identification of knowledge gaps. Presently, cycling is marginalised as a mode of transportation in the public discourse, in policies, provision of infrastructure, financing and research, and this is even more distinct for cycling in rural areas. For cycling to increase substantially in modal share, it is not enough to increase the number of cycling trips made by people who already cycle today. It is necessary that also people who do not cycle must take up cycling, which means that provisions have to be made that cater to those people's needs. While further research is necessary here, it is known that bikeable routes that are well connected are a basic precondition, which must be coupled with effective incentives to increase cycling. This requires a remaking of the transportation policy as a whole with a systematic prioritisation of sustainable travel, which incorporates the heterogeneity of current and prospective cyclists. Special care must be taken to also consider the conditions in rural areas, to make the most of the total potential for cycling. ; Att cykla på landsbygd skiljer sig från att cykla i tätorter. Motorfordonens hastigheter är vanligtvis högre och samspelet med andra trafikanter utgörs nästan uteslutande av ...
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Behovet av forskning om beslutsprocesser rörande investeringar i vägar och banor har uppmärksammats av KFB och Vägverket i slutet av 1990-talet. Denna studie lämnar sitt bidrag genom att redovisa och analysera den beslutsprocess som ledde fram till att ett mitträcke och 2+1 körfält anlades på E4 norr om Gävle. Med hjälp av dokument, pressklipp och intervjuer belyses utvecklingen från Nollvisionens etablering till projektets följder i form av nya mitträcken. Faktorer som problemformulering, sökande efter alternativ och värdering av konsekvenser redovisas. Sättet att organisera processen, externa intressenters inflytande samt deltagarnas roller, aktivitet och attitydutveckling belyses. Processen prövar och realiserar en helt ny utformning av vägar. Kunskapsprocessen står i centrum. Den gäller både undersökning av genomförbarheten, problemet att övertyga skeptiker och vinna acceptans samt upplevelsen av att ha åstadkommit en väsentlig innovation vad avser trafiksäkerhet. Studien lyfter fram både det specifika med detta fall och det allmängiltiga hos planering av vägar och därmed infrastruktur. – Behovet av vidare kunskapsutveckling avseende teoretiskt och empiriskt underlag för kunskap om beslutsprocesser belyses. ; The need for conducting research on decision-making processes as regards investments in roads and lanes has been paid attention to by the Swedish Transport and Communications Research Board (KFB) and the National Swedish Road Administration in the late 1990,s. This study delivers its contribution by accounting for and analysing the decision-making process that resulted in wire railings of central reserves being set up and 2 + 1 lanes being built on the European Highway No. 4 to the north of Gävle. By means of documents, press cuttings and interviews, light is being thrown on the development, from the establishment of the Vision Zero to the consequences of the project in the form of a new type of wire railings. Factors such as formulation of problems, search for options and assessment of consequences are accounted for. Ways and means to organise the process, external interested parties' influence and the participants' roles, activities and attitude development are highlighted. This process submits to testing an entirely new design of roads and puts it into practice. The process of acquiring experiences is in the centre of attraction. It applies to both the feasibility study, including the problem of convincing sceptics and gaining their acceptance, and the experience of achieving a substantial innovation in the road safety area. The study emphasises both the specific aspect of this case and the generally applicable with road planning and accordingly infra structure. The need for further development of know-how as to a theoretic and empiric knowledge bank of decision-making processes is additionally highlighted.
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The aim of the present study is to describe and analyze the attitude of local government officials to traffic safety and to their roles in the decisions being made with regard to traffic safety measures. The purpose is also to give an overall picture of the decision-making processes in connection with specific traffic safety measures in two municipal authorities. The study has been divided into two parts. The first part was an interview study in which twenty local government officials in eleven municipal authorities were subject to in-depth interviews. The second part consists of case studies of the planning and decision-making processes with regard to traffic safety matters in two municipal authorities, where the source material in each case consists of written documentation.
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Researchers from Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden collaborate in the EU sponsored project »Asses implementations in the frame of the Cities of Tomorrow« (ASI). ASI is centered on quality of life issues and the way they are dealt with in projects aiming to pro-mote sustainable transport. In general, these issues tend to be overlooked by researchers, as they are difficult to measure or quantify. The main objective of this project is to examine whether and how policy makers take into account quality of life effects when designing and implementing transport policies, by reviewing policy implementations in ci-ties that participated in the Cities of Tomorrow programme. Based on this, development of an instrument that will enable decision-makers to better address quality of life issues in mobility projects is prepared, in order to secure public acceptance and promote user behaviour changes. The project follows holistic approach to sustainability; special emphasis is given to issues of sustainable transport. This reflects the facts that the urban structure directly pre-determines the transport system and that the mobility of people and goods has a central impact on the quality of urban environment. Therefore the project clamours for compact, space-saving settlement structure interrelated with an environmentally compatible transport system. Its scientific orientation is determined by the objectives of the EU policies and its inspiration sources could be found also in eco-logical and architectural movements. Similarly to their typical approach, the project Ecocity intends to realise its vision of sustainable city through planning of an ideal physical structure within a spatially limited model area.
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The use of mobile phone and similar devices while driving has been a topic of discussion and research for several years. It is now an established fact that driving performance is deteriorated due to distraction but no clear conclusions can yet be drawn concerning influence on crash rates. Better studies on this relationship is needed. Most countries in Europe and many countries elsewhere have introduced different types of bans for handheld devices. Sweden has, however, no such bans. VTI was commissioned by the Swedish Government to outline possible means to reduce the dangerous usage of mobile phones and other communication devices while driving as alternatives to banning. This task was a result of a previous VTI-state-of-the-art review of research on mobile phone and other communication device usage while driving. One of the findings in the review was that bans on handheld phones did not appear to reduce the number of crashes. Eighteen different countermeasures in three main areas were suggested. (1) Technical solutions such as countermeasures directed towards the infrastructure, the vehicle and the communication device. (2) Education and information, describing different ways to increase knowledge and understanding among stakeholders and different driver categories. (3) Different possibilities for how society, industry and organisations can influence the behaviour of individuals, via policies, rules, recommendations and incentives. Our conclusion is that a combination of different countermeasures is needed – where education and information to the drivers are combined with support and incentives for a safe usage of different communication devices.
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Denna rapport behandlar tänkbara åtgärder för att reducera farligt användande av mobiltelefon och annan kommunikationsutrustning under körning. En viktig del i uppdraget var att belysa alternativ till lagstiftning om förbud. Åtgärdsförslagen täcker flera områden. Ett av dem är teknik, vilket innefattar både teknik i fordonet, teknik i kommunikationsutrustningen och en sammankoppling med infrastrukturen. Ett annat område handlar om utbildning och information och beskriver olika sätt att öka människans kunskap och förståelse. Ett tredje område belyser olika möjligheter som samhället har att påverka människans beteende, både via förbud och lagar och via incitament. En lista över samtliga åtgärdsförslag finns på rapportens baksida. Det finns både för- och nackdelar med användandet av kommunikationsutrustning under körning. Hur användandet ska hanteras är ett komplext problem och det är osannolikt att en enskild åtgärd står för hela lösningen. En åtgärd kan till och med vara beroende av att andra åtgärder redan är implementerade. Många åtgärder har en baksida och man kan inte förvänta sig tydliga målbilder och rakt igenom positiva resultat. Man måste därför lyfta blicken och inse att om fördelarna överväger nackdelarna så är åtgärden värd att genomföra. Olika åtgärder kan dock stärka varandra och delvis fånga upp möjliga negativa sidoeffekter. Vi anser att en kombination av olika åtgärder som dels utbildar och informerar och dels stöttar föraren i att kunna hantera kommunikation på ett säkert sätt är att föredra över ett förbud av användningen av kommunikationsutrustning under färd likt det som idag finns i andra europeiska länder. En kontinuerlig uppföljning och utvärdering krävs för att säkerställa att åtgärderna har förväntad effekt. ; This report outlines possible means to reduce the dangerous usage of mobile phones and other communication devices while driving. An important aspect of this commission was to demonstrate alternatives to legislation. The suggested countermeasures cover several areas. One is technical solutions, including countermeasures directed towards the infrastructure, the vehicle and the communication device. Another area includes education and information and describes different ways to increase knowledge and understanding. Furthermore, there are different possibilities for how society can influence the behaviour of individuals, both via bans, recommendations and incentives. The usage of communication devices while driving has both advantages and disadvantages. How to deal with device usage is a complex problem, and it is unlikely that one single countermeasure can provide a complete solution. One countermeasure may even depend on the implementation of others. The exact effect of most countermeasures is hard to predict, and possible side effects may occur. It is therefore necessary to be pragmatic, meaning that countermeasures whose advantages outweigh their disadvantages should be implemented. Also, different countermeasures can reinforce each other which may attenuate negative side effects. It is our opinion that a combination of different countermeasures – which educate and inform the driver while at the same time support him or her in a safe usage of communication devices – is preferable to a law against communication device usage while driving. Continuous follow-ups are necessary to ensure the outcome of implemented countermeasures.
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