Researching road safety

Home > Safer People > Programs & Resources >

Information on road safety issues can be found in many sources including:

• the internet
• websites of transport-related organisations
• journals
• databases.

Some sources are freely available to the general public but some require special authorisation and/or payment for service.

Listed below are some of the best sources and resources for obtaining information on road safety issues.

Road Safety in Australia
In 2004 Road Safety in Australia was published. This publication is an excellent starting point for most topics and has brief summaries of most issues.

Internet searching
One of the most useful and user-friendly search engines is Google. Helpful hints on searching with Google can be found at Google Help Central.

Which websites are most useful?

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) This organisation is an independent body that is Australia’s prime agency for transport safety investigations. The ATSB publications include reports on the facts and conclusions of investigations, safety research material, and statistics such as national road fatalities. Most material is available free of charge.

Australian Automobile Association (AAA) The Australian Automobile Association represents the state organisations. AAA is a key partner in the website SaferRoads. This site provides a variety of information for motorists, medical practitioners, the transport industry, local governments and links to road safety research organisations in Australia.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) This is the American organisation responsible for reducing deaths, injuries and economic losses. It sets and enforces safety performance standards and conducts research on driver behaviour and traffic safety.

UK Department of Transport – Road Safety This website contains information on the UK Government’s Road Safety Strategy and targets to 2010 and includes advice for all road users. Its The Think! Road Safety Website promotes road safety education and includes special sections for parents, teachers, police officers and road safety officers. Factsheets, statistics and useful links are provided.

Australian & New Zealand Road Safety Contacts Register This is a directory of researchers and practitioners in the road safety field in Australia and New Zealand. Entries in the Register are organised in alphabetical order by Australian State or Territory, then by organisational name. The Register provides contact details of people with particular road safety interests around Australia.

Which journals are most useful?
Most of those listed are subscription-based journals, meaning that there is a cost to purchasing the full text of articles. However, the journal titles below provide the list of contents of individual issues on the journal’s website. If you want to obtain the full text you can ask your local library to obtain it.

Accident Analysis & Prevention
IATSS Research
Injury Prevention
International Journal of Crashworthiness
Journal of Safety Research
Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
Traffic Injury Prevention

Which databases are most useful?

Transportation Research Information Service (TRIS)
TRIS Online is free. It focuses on references from the USA but there is some information from the UK, Europe and Australia on a wide range of topics associated with transport including road safety.

Transportation Libraries Catalog
TLCat is free. It provides access to the catalogue records from leading transportation libraries in the USA.

Australian Transport Index (ATRI)
This database, produced by ARRB (Australian Road Research Board) Transport Research Ltd, contains over 140,000 records and coverage starting from 1976 onwards. Subject coverage includes road safety, vehicle design and safety, road user behaviour, road design and engineering, traffic control and management, transport and the environment, and transport economics. It is a bibliographic database, that is, it provides information about journal articles, conference papers and reports including an abstract (summary) where possible, but it doesn’t provide the full-text of the article or paper. This database is available through subscription on the Informit Online Internet service. Some specialised transportation and university libraries provide access to this database for their patrons.

Other Important Information

For more information, please contact your librarian.