Riders are urged to take part in a major survey on attitudes to road safety strategies which has so far only received responses from four motorcyclists.
Dr João Canoquena of the University of Notre Dame Australia, says the final round of the survey now requires rider support to help balance the outcomes.
The survey covers community concerns about road safety strategies such as speed enforcement, wire rope barriers, roadside breath/drug testing, speed cameras, graduated licensing schemes and more.
Riders under-represented
“There were only four people in the survey who nominated motorbike as the main means of transport to work, place of leisure or education,” João says.
“This small number limits the sorts of analyses one can conduct. I would like to have more motorcyclists in the sample.
“If this is so, I can then look at how the motorcyclists have answered the questions; what their thoughts are about the strategies I will be including such as RBT. I might also include wire barriers as I know they have caused some trouble to motorcyclists.
“If (riders) know of any other road safety strategies which have been controversial, please, let me know. I am working on the next version of the survey. It is not finalised yet. So, any suggestions are welcome.”
You can contact Dr João Canoquena by email by clicking here or clicking here.
Safety survey
His project started with a pilot survey, following the analysis of 544 written public submissions to the former Australian Transport Council.
“The point the study seems to be making is that there are sentiments in the community that do not seem to be picked up by policy design,” he says.
“Those in charge of policy design do not seem to be aware that the negativity in the community has a wide range of nuances.
“It is not about people supporting or not a strategy. There is a wide range of emotions associated with some strategies, which may include disbelief, refutation, dissent etc.
“There are those who are not happy or resent certain policies, but will always be rather passive. There are others, however, who are starting to refuse certain policies. They will grow more disenchanted unless there is some sort of redress.”
Source: MotorbikeWriter.com