Module 6 Final PDF

Module 6 Safety and Social issues
Sustainable Urban Mobility

in Developing Countries
Module 6
Safety and Social Issues
In Cooperation with
Sustainable Urban Mobility in Developing Countries
– Module 6 –
Safety and Social Issues
Published The United Nations Institute for Training and research (UNITAR)
by: Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Copyright: Copyright © 2010

United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
ISBN: 978-92-9182-063-4
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FOREWORD
“We cannot talk about urban transport until we know what type of a city we want.
And to talk about the city we want is to talk about the way we want to live. Do we want
to create a city for the poor, the children, and the elderly, and therefore for every other
human being, or a city for automobiles? The important questions are not about
engineering, but about ways to live. A premise of the new city is that we want society to
be as egalitarian as possible. For this purpose, quality of life distribution is more
important than income distribution. The equality that really matters is that relevant to a
child: Access to adequate nutrition, recreation, education, sports facilities, green spaces,
and a living environment as free from motor vehicles as possible. The city should have
abundant cultural offerings; public spaces with people; low levels of noise and air
pollution; and short travel times.
Cars destroy the common silence; pollute the air; and require extremely costly
road space and infrastructure that absorbs scarce public funds. While only an upper
middle class minority uses cars, despite enormous costs and injustice, the system works.
But it would not be possible for every citizen to use a private car for his or her mobility;
otherwise jams would be massive and high velocity roads would destroy the human
qualities and structure of the city. Many developing cities are moving in this direction.
Bangkok, Manila, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur and other cities are already notorious for severe
traffic congestion, despite relatively low levels of motorization.
Urban transport is a political rather than a technical issue. The technical aspects
are relatively simple. The difficult decisions relate to who is going to benefit from the
models adopted. Do we dare to create a transport model different from that in the so-
called advanced world cities? Do we dare create a transport system giving priority to the
needs of the poor majority rather than the automobile owning minority? Are we trying to
find the most efficient, economical way to move a city’s population, as cleanly and as
comfortably as possible? Or are we just trying to minimize the upper class’s traffic jams?”
These questions are posed by Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogotá
(Colombia), who introduced a number of sustainable transport measures in his city1.
This Course on Sustainable Urban Mobility in Developing Countries is designed to

provide answers for Peñalosa’s questions and learn about solutions and alternative
approaches in urban transport planning that target a more sustainable transport system
in Developing Cities. For this purpose, six modules have been developed that focus on
the following main topics:
Module 1: Urban Growth and Strategies for Sustainable Urban Transport

Module 2: Municipal Mobility Management
Module 3: Public Transport Services
Module 4: Management, Financing and Institutions
Module 5: Energy and Environment
Module 6: Social Issues and Safety
These modules together form a complex picture on what sustainable transport can
be and how it may be implemented.
Local Development Programme

UNITAR
1
Peñalosa, E., 2005: Urban Transport and Poverty, GTZ Sourcebook Module 1a, Eschborn.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This course on Sustainable Urban Mobility in Developing Countries has been

initiated by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), in
collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).
The substantive content of this module was provided by Dr. Niklas Sieber (editor)
a Transport Economist, Regional Planner and University Lecturer from Germany, based
on extensive material provided by GTZ. This publication was prepared under the
supervision of the Local Development Programme of UNITAR and GTZ, especially Mr.
Manfred Breithaupt, Mr. Armin Wagner and Mr. Carlos Pardo for reviewing the module.
Special thanks are due to the aforementioned individuals and institutions for their
support and contributions.
Table of Contents
1. URBAN ROAD SAFETY ............................................................ 1
1.1 Poor road safety as a major health problem................................................. 1
1.2 Accident control and its effects .................................................................... 3
1.3 Organization of local road safety ................................................................. 4
1.4 Assessing the problems ............................................................................... 5
1.5 Safer roads .................................................................................................. 6

1.5.1 Road Design ............................................................................................. 6
1.5.2 Protection of vulnerable road users .............................................................. 8
1.5.3 Speed Management ................................................................................... 8
1.6 Vehicle safety .............................................................................................. 9
1.7 Driver behavior ......................................................................................... 10

1.7.1 Drinking and Driving ................................................................................ 10
1.7.2 Wearing of seat-belts ............................................................................... 11
1.7.3 Helmets ................................................................................................. 12
1.8 Traffic law enforcement ............................................................................. 12
1.9 Organization of safety and emergency operations ..................................... 13
2. STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION AND PUBLIC AWARENESS ... 15
2.1 Stakeholder Participation .......................................................................... 15

2.1.1 Context and Policies................................................................................. 15
2.1.2 Forms of stakeholder participation ............................................................. 17
2.1.3 Methods of stakeholder participation .......................................................... 18
2.1.4 Tools for stakeholder participation ............................................................. 19
2.2 The Importance of Public Awareness ........................................................ 19
2.3 Public Awareness Interventions ............................................................... 20

2.3.1 Informative Interventions ......................................................................... 20
2.3.2 Persuasive Messages ............................................................................... 21
2.3.3 Specific Activities .................................................................................... 22
3. GENDER ISSUES IN URBAN TRANSPORT ............................... 24
3.1 Why gender is important for urban transport planning .............................. 24
3.2 Female transport patterns ......................................................................... 25

3.2.1 Modal Choice for women........................................................................... 26
3.2.2 Women and access .................................................................................. 26
3.2.3 Private vehicle ownership and use ............................................................. 27
3.3 Public transport and women ...................................................................... 28
3.3.1 Security for women ................................................................................. 28
3.3.2 Affordability ............................................................................................ 29
3.4 Planning of gender-specific interventions .................................................. 30

3.4.1 Gender analysis ...................................................................................... 30
3.4.2 Collection of gender-specific data .............................................................. 30
3.4.3 Measuring gender equity in urban transport ................................................ 30
3.5 Design of gender-specific interventions ..................................................... 31

3.5.1 Personal Security .................................................................................... 32
3.5.2 Public transport facilities........................................................................... 33
3.5.3 Governance ............................................................................................ 34
3.6 Conclusion on gender and urban transport ................................................ 34
List of Figures
Figure 1: World share of road fatalities and vehicle population .................................... 1

Figure 2: Road fatalities in Germany ....................................................................... 3
Figure 3: Crash location analysis ............................................................................ 5
Figure 4: A road in Gaborone, Botswana without surfaced sidewalks. Pedestrians are
forced to walk on the road after rain ....................................................................... 8
Figure 5: Breath testing in Germany ..................................................................... 10
Figure 6: Mask parade for Earth Day in Hong Kong ................................................. 20
Figure 7: Persuasive message for reallocation of parking space ................................. 21
Figure 8: Mode choice by gender in Johannesburg, South Africa ................................ 26
Figure 9: Mumbai women-only train wagon ....................................................... 32
Figure 10: Woman-only coaches in Japan………………………………………………………………………….42
List of Boxes
Box 1: Road safety audits...................................................................................... 6

Box 2: Strategies to bring about increased seat-belt wearing rates ............................ 11
Box 3: Helmet use in Malaysia ............................................................................. 12
Box 4: Traffic safety programme in Brasília ............................................................ 13
Box 5: Stakeholder participation for road charging options for London ....................... 16
Box 6: Stakeholder participation in German planning processes ................................ 17
Box 7: Citizen report card in Bangalore, India ........................................................ 18
Box 8: Informative interventions on road safety ..................................................... 21
Box 9: Kid walk to School campaign in the UK ........................................................ 23
Box 10: Basic terminology of gender sciences ........................................................ 25
Box 11: Public transport services NOT religion are the deterrent for Karachi women .... 28
Box 12: Indicators for gender integration............................................................... 31
Box 13: Impacts of bicycles on women .................................................................. 31
Box 14: Integrating a gender perspective into public transport, Montreal, Canada ....... 33
Box 15: Basic gender and urban transport checklist ................................................ 35
List of Tables
Table 1: Matrix for injury control: Example of motorcycle safety ................................. 3

Table 2: Local authority road safety schemes in the UK ............................................. 7
Table 3: Personal security: issues for women and their behavior change strategies ...... 29
Acronyms
ALS Area Licensing Scheme

BAC Blood alcohol concentration
BLT Build-Lease-Transfer
BOO Build-Own-Operate
BOOT Build-Own-Operate-Transfer
BOT Build-Operate-Transfer,
BrAC Breath alcohol concentration
BRT Bus Rapid Transit
CDM Clean Development Mechanism
CER Certified Emission Reduction
CH4 Methane
CNG Compressed Natural Gas
CO Carbon Monoxide
CO2 Carbon Dioxide
DBFO Design-Build-Finance- Operate
DBOM Design-Build-Operate-Maintain
EIA Environmental Impact Assessment
ERP Electronic Road Pricing
GDP Gross domestic product
GEF Global Environmental Facility
GHG Greenhouse Gas
GNP Gross National Product
GPS Global Positioning System
GTZ German Technical Cooperation
HOV High-Occupancy Vehicle
I/M Inspection and maintenance
ICT Information and communications technologies
IEA International Energy Agency
IMT Intermediate Means of Transport
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
ITDP Institute for Transportation & Development Policy
ITS Intelligent transport systems
JI Joint Implementation
LDV Light Duty Vehicle
LEZ Low Emission Zone
LOS Level of Service
LPG Liquified Petroleum/Propane Gas
LPT Local Public Transport
LRT Light rail Transit
MPT Motorised Private Transport
MRT Mass Rapid Transit
N2O Nitrous Oxides
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
NMT Non Motorised Transport
NMV Non Motorised Vehicle
NOX Nitrogen Oxide
NPV Net Present Value
OECD Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development
P&R Park & Ride
Pkm Passenger kilometre, unit to measure transport volume for
PM Particulate Matter
PM10 Particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 µm
pphd Passengers per hour and direction
PPP Purchasing Power Parity
PPP Public Private Partnership
PT Public Transport
ROT Rehabilitate-Operate-Transfer
ROW Right-of-way
ROW Right-Of-Way
rpm Rotations per minute
SUTP (GTZ) Sustainable Urban Transport Project
SUV Sports Utility Vehicle
TDM Transport Demand Management
TFL Transport for London
tkm Tonne kilometre, unit to measure transport volume for goods
TOD Transit-Oriented Development
TSP Total suspended particles
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
VOC Vehicle Operating Cost / Volatile organic compounds
WBCSD World Business Council for Sustainable Development
WHO World Health Organisation
WRI World Resources Institute
3
µg/m Pollutant concentration of air pollutants in microgram per square
1. Urban Road Safety2
1.1 Poor road safety as a major health problem
Every 30 seconds a person is killed in a road crash - more than 3,000 per day - and
almost 1.2 million people per year dying in road crashes worldwide. As many as 50
million are injured. More than eighty five per cent of the road traffic deaths and injuries
occur in low income and middle income countries, yet they own only some 40 per cent of
the world's motor vehicles.
Developing countries and countries in transition own 40 per cent of the world's motor
vehicles, but account for 85 per cent of its reported road fatalities (Figure 1). The Africa
and the Middle East/North Africa region alone own only 3 per cent of the world's vehicles,
but account for almost three times the percentage of road deaths. As official police
records are generally more complete in high income Countries, the true imbalance is
probably even greater.
Figure 1
World share of road fatalities and vehicle population
Source: GRSP
The World Health Organization (WHO) forecasts that by 2020 road crashes will be the
third most common cause of premature death in the world and the annual number of
deaths are forecast to be double the number in 2006 unless action is taken.
Vulnerable road users are particular at risk, especially children. 500 children die every
day in road crashes. In many Asian, African, and Middle Eastern countries between 40
and 50 per cent of people killed as a result of a road crash are pedestrians. More children
died in Africa in 1998, according to the WHO, from road crashes than from the HIV/AIDS
virus.
2
Adapted from Lacroix, Silcock (2004); Gtz Sourcebook Module 5b.
Page | 1
Most of the road deaths and injuries are preventable.
Estimates indicate that, over the next 15 years, the number of people dying annually in
road crashes may rise to 2.4 million, with the increase occurring in developing countries
and countries in transition. The total number of people killed in road crashes in the
developing world continues to increase, whereas in highly motorized countries there has
been a steady decrease over the last 15 years.
Page | 2
1.2 Accident control and its effects
The good news is that most of the road deaths and injuries are preventable if adequate
measures are taken. An example might be Germany, where road accidents increased
tremendously with the rapid motorization after the Second World War. (see Figure 2). In
1970, the annual number of fatalities exceeded 20,000. Government decided to improve
road safety through legislation, police control and public awareness campaigns. As a
result, the number of accidents decreased to less than 5,000 in 2009. This was achieved
against the trend of increasing motorization and 16 million additional inhabitants after
the unification in 1990. The main components of the campaign were promotion of safety
belts, speed limits, road safety improvements, motorcycle helmets and measures against
drunk driving.
Figure 2
Road fatalities in Germany
Source: Statistisches Bundesamt 2010
As an example, measures available to increase motorcycle safety are listed in Table 1.

Measures focus on the passengers, the vehicle and the road environment. Road safety is
increased if measures are taken before the event (e.g. good brakes), during the event
(e.g. helmet) and after the event (e.g. first aid kit).
Table 1
Matrix for injury control: Example of motorcycle safety
Personal Vehicle Road environment

Pre-event • Avoid alcohol • Daytime headlamps • One-way streets
consumption • Good tyres, • Special lanes for motorcycling
• Obey traffic laws • Working brakes • Clear road signs and signals
Supervised training
Event • Wear fastened • Good quality, well-fitting • Energy absorbing barriers
helmet helmet • Roadsides clear of fixed
• Physical fitness • Leg guards on cycle obstructions
exercise, bone • Heavy boots and clothing • Guardrail along cliff
strength
Post-event • Rehabilitation • First aid kit • Communication network
• Emergency radio • Transportation network
• Emergency services
Page | 3
1.3 Organization of local road safety
High-level goals (such as Sweden’s Vision Zero goal of no deaths from road crashes) are
typically adopted and advertised at the national level, but are made operational at local
levels by municipal and other highway authorities. The role of local authorities in
reducing road casualties is crucial. However, despite the need to improve road safety, a
comprehensive road safety strategy often is not on top of the local political agenda.
Difficult political decision-making processes, other issues such as the management of

traffic flows, spatial and urban planning, economic and financial problems often hinder
local authorities in taking steps to improve road safety. Nevertheless, all local authorities,
whether or not they have a statutory responsibility for road safety, must recognise that
they play a key role in reducing road casualties through their statutory functions and
their local influence. An urban safety management strategy should be developed which
focuses on reducing the number and severity of road crashes within the context of the
development and transport strategy defined by local authorities. Road safety activities at
the local level should:
• Understand and consider the local situation and circumstances;

• Make specific provisions for vulnerable road user groups such as pedestrians,
cyclists, children, elderly people, and look at concrete measures that are able
to tackle their problems in the urban environment;
• Encourage safer road user behavior and enforce traffic laws; and
• Improve the road safety situation on a short and medium-term basis with
measures that are easy to implement.
The role of local authorities in reducing road casualties is crucial.
Widely acknowledged strategies to improve urban road safety include:
• Coordinating road safety policies;

• Assessing the problem and setting targets for casualty reductions;
• Creating a safer road environment;
• Raising public awareness and improving education;
• Enforcing traffic law to encourage safe road user behavior;
• Promoting use of safer vehicles;
• Providing assistance to road crash victims;
• Ensuring sound financing of road safety policies; and
• Integrating all these elements into a “comprehensive road safety policy”.
International experience shows that two aspects of road safety make it difficult to
manage road safety effectively. First, road safety involves a large number and wide
range of organizations and actors. All of them need to be engaged to cover all aspects of
Page | 4
road safety issues. Key players to improve safety on the road include local public
authorities responsible for traffic management and road maintenance and construction
(public works), the police, school administrations, civic and advocacy groups at the local
level, health care providers, emergency medical services, the local private sector and,
last but not least, concerned citizens. . Secondly, most of those institutions and
organizations do not usually have road safety as their primary objective. Hence, road
safety activities often get neglected.
In order to overcome these difficulties, local authorities should make maximum use of
their influence in support of road safety promotion. Therefore, they should ensure co-
ordination between the various disciplines, institutions and organizations involved. Only if
a community takes ownership of the road safety issue, can changes take place.
1.4 Assessing the problems
Assessing the road safety problem at the local level requires a clear understanding of the
numbers, distribution and characteristics of crashes and casualties and of the physical
and social environment within which the solutions must be developed. Crash and casualty
data are commonly collected by the police but there is an acknowledged problem of
under-reporting. The extent of under-reporting is much greater in developing countries,
so that the scale of the problem is often very much larger than revealed by police
statistics. Given the present situation, it is often useful to collect overall road casualty
data from several sources, particularly in the health sector, in order to supplement police
data.
Well-designed measures, based on an analysis of crash records,

have shown a great potential in reducing the number and
severity of accidents, often at low cost.
However, data collected by the police is usually the only source from which detailed
information about the nature of individual crashes can be obtained..Such data is essential
to develop detailed analysis of problems identified at specific locations and design
remedial measures.
Figure 3
Crash location analysis
Source: GRSP
Page | 5
Analysis systems should enable investigators to identify, for example, involvement of

alcohol or excessive speed so that they can select the most appropriate
countermeasures. Crash location maps (Figure 3) have also proven to be a useful tool.
They can be produced using computer-based softwares or in a less sophisticated manner,
by using pins on a map showing the types and locations of reported accidents. These
maps allow identification of so called "black spots"; stretches or road sections with a
concentration of crashes which may well be reduced by road engineering measures. With
computerized records, modern softwares enable investigators to select crash records by
location and to carry out in-depth analyses of the data.
By creating a working group or commission, composed of representatives of all local

authorities and actors involved in road safety such as the police, the traffic management
authority and the road or highway authority, exchange of information and elaboration of
proposals for short, medium and long-term solutions can take place in a multidisciplinary
way. Additional representatives from the school authority or interest groups such as
cyclists or market traders may be included as advisors in these commissions to obtain a
better understanding about the risk situations which different road user groups have to
grapple with.
1.5 Safer roads
1.5.1 Road Design
The process of adapting the layout and use of roads and footways in urban areas to
manage the exposure of road users to risk will be in many cases a lengthy one. At every
stage in this process, the responsible authorities should be taking all practicable and
affordable steps to reduce casualties in the prevailing situations and to contribute to their
further reduction in the longer term. Short-term measures should address the existing
transport system as a whole to reduce the number of collisions and injuries. Longer term
measures must consider planning and development issues related to the growth of the
considered urban area, and focus on policies that prevent the creation of new situations
in which life and limb are put at risk. All new road proposals should be subject to a safety
audit, by independent safety specialists (Box 1).
Box 1
Road safety audits
Road safety audit has been mandatory on major national road schemes in the UK for a
number of years. Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands and
also Thailand have developed sound guidelines in this field, and the practice is
spreading to low and middle income countries. The Public Works Department of the
Government of Malaysia has developed, and uses, a particularly good set of road
safety audit guidelines. These define road safety audit as: “the formal examination of
the planning, design and construction of a road project, and of the characteristics and
operation of an existing road, by independent and qualified examiners, to identify any
potentially unsafe feature or operational arrangement that may adversely affect the
safety of any road user”.
It is important to recognise that this process:
- Is formal and independent of the design and construction teams,

- Is done at various stages in the planning and design process,
- Is carried out by properly qualified staff, and
- Considers the safety of all types of road user.
Page | 6
For the treatment of black spots and parts of the urban road network which expose users
to high levels of risk, low cost measures (Source: Lacroix, Silcock (2004): GTZ
Sourcebook Module 5b). Table 2 has shown a great potential in reducing the number and
severity of crashes. These short-term measures are easy to implement and often do not
need long bureaucratic procedures. Systematic analysis of collision diagrams and crash
reports identify the features which should be improved.
They often include:

• Improvement of traffic signs,
• Improvement of road marking and delineation (for example bus, motorcycle or
cycle lanes),
• Small construction measures which can be integrated in road maintenance
activities such as improvement of the road surface.
• Some countries report poor performance of road signs and markings, largely
because of poor understanding and compliance by road users.
Table 2
Local authority road safety schemes in the UK
Rank Measure First year rate of return %

Bend treatment
1 722
(revised signs and marking)
2 Priority junction 523
3 Route treatments 520
4 Cycle schemes 444
5 Overall link improvements 276
6= Signalized junction 266
6= General link treatments 266
8 Link traffic calming 260
9 Pedestrian facilities 246
10 Area-wide schemes 225
11 Roundabouts 176
Source: Lacroix, Silcock (2004); GTZ Sourcebook Module 5b
It is important that road safety benefits are not arbitrarily ascribed to highway/road
proposals or developments without an assessment of their casualty reduction potential.
Therefore, all staff involved in the design and implementation of road improvement,
maintenance and traffic management schemes should have an understanding of crash
prevention principles and easy access to relevant data. Special attention should be given
to road construction areas, where the risk of a crash is high. An appropriate arrangement
of traffic signs and safety devices, as well as public information, is important to enhance
awareness about the specific traffic circumstances.
Page | 7
Figure 4
A road in Gaborone, Botswana without surfaced sidewalks;
pedestrians are forced to walk on the road after rain
Source: Koehler, GTZ Sourcebook Module 5b
1.5.2 Protection of vulnerable road users
Pedestrians and cyclists are the most vulnerable road users. They are often at risk due to
the conflicting use of the same road space by different types of road users, for example
pedestrians using the roadway because of the absence of a sidewalk. The most serious
conflict a non-motorized vehicle can experience is being hit by a fast moving vehicle, and
the higher the speed the stronger impact and risk of injury. Most severe and fatal
accidents happen either at road junctions, or at crossings between a street and a cycle
track. This is particularly the case in urban areas. Many conflicts happen because the
driver of the motor vehicle misreads the situation, underestimates the speed, not
following the traffic rules or in some cases, does not see the non-motorized vehicle.
Measures to benefit non-motorized transport users must be developed within broad

traffic, environmental, economic and urban planning objectives. In the UK, the Institution
of Highways and Transportation suggest that the following hierarchy of measures should
be considered before a design solution is chosen: i) traffic reduction, ii) speed reduction,
iii) junction treatment, iv) redistribution of road space and provision of special facilities
such as pedestrian crossing islands or cycle paths. More information is given in Section
2.3 of Module 2.
1.5.3 Speed Management
Speed management in urban areas can play a decisive role in the reduction of the
number and severity of accidents, since excessive and inappropriate speed is a major
problem. The probability of a pedestrian fatality reduces from 85% with an impact at 50
km/h to less than 10% at 30 km/h.
Speed management is not simply about reducing speed, but to a considerable extent
about planning and designing the road layout and the road network in such a way that an
appropriate speed is obtained.
One of the key elements is the road and speed classification achieved by establishing a
road hierarchy. The process includes i) collecting and mapping data, ii) setting targets,
iii) forming a speed management strategy, iv) designing the programme, v) involving the
public, vi) implementing and vii) evaluating the programme.
Page | 8
The probability of a pedestrian fatality reduces from 85% with

an impact at 50 km/h to less than 10% at 30 km/h.
1.6 Vehicle safety
As vehicle safety standards are generally set at governmental level, or imposed de facto
by the standards of imported vehicles, local authorities should ensure that all vehicles
owned or operated by companies or under contract are maintained to standards of
safety, especially those safety-relevant parts such as braking systems, steering system,
lamps and tyres. For this purpose, developing countries are adopting inspection and
maintenance and roadworthiness regulations (see section 2.3 of Module 5). A
comprehensive inspection, maintenance and roadworthiness system requires close co-
operation between vehicle roadworthiness inspection teams, trained vehicle mechanics
and workshops, and traffic police. It distinguishes between private cars, heavy goods
vehicles and public service vehicles. Heavy goods and public service vehicles, due to their
more frequent use, should be inspected more frequently than private cars.
Limiting overloading is important both from a road safety perspective

and to protect a city’s investment in its road infrastructure.
Overloading is a serious problem in developing countries, related to the technical

specifications of vehicles. Each vehicle has a maximum carrying capacity, which depends
on the structural strength of the chassis and is usually linked to the strength of roads and
bridges in a country. If this capacity is exceeded, vehicles may not react correctly in
critical situations. The problem of overloading should be kept under special surveillance
by the traffic police or vehicle inspectors. This is not only a safety issue, as overloaded
vehicles cause disproportionate damage to roads and impose substantial economic
burdens on the authorities responsible for maintenance. Thus limiting overloading is
important both from a road safety perspective and to protect a city’s investment in its
road infrastructure.
Due to heavy overload there

are many accidents on the
Manali-Leh-Highway, India.
Source: Peter Krimbacher
Page | 9
1.7 Driver behavior
Responsible and cautious driver behavior may prevent road accidents. This is not only
related to the driving style (see Module 5 Chapter 2.5. on EcoDriving), but as well to
alcohol consumption, wearing of seatbelts or helmets.
1.7.1 Drinking and Driving
1.7.1 Drinking and driving is an issue in many countries and often one of the main
causes in road crashes. Road users who are impaired by alcohol have a significantly
higher risk of being involved in a crash. Studies in low- and middle-income countries
have shown that between 33% and 69% of fatally injured drivers and between 8% and
29% of non-fatally injured drivers had consumed alcohol before their crash.
Drinking and driving is an issue in many countries and often

one of the main causes in road crashes.
Effective measures are necessary to reduce alcohol-related crashes and injuries. It is

fundamental to establish a legal BAC (blood alcohol concentration) or BrAC (breath
alcohol concentration) limit. The recommendation by the European Commission for upper
limits of 0.5 mg/ml for the general driving population and 0.2 mg/ml for young drivers
and motorcycle riders are considered to be good practice.
Random breath testing is carried out in several countries and has subsequently led to
reductions in the number of alcohol related road crashes by up to 20%. The visibility and
randomness of the enforcement very much affect and change people’s behavior. In the
UK during the first seven years of the legal BAC limit enforced by breath testing
(introduced in 1967), 5,000 lives were saved and 200,000 injuries were prevented.
Figure 5
Breath testing in Germany
Page | 10
1.7.2 Wearing of seat-belts
The seat-belt is an effective safety tool that not only saves lives, but also significantly
reduces the severity of injury that a vehicle occupant may have sustained if they were
not wearing the device. Around half of all deaths of front seat occupants could be
prevented through the correct use of seat-belts. The forces generated in a 50 km/h
accident can increase a vehicle occupant’s body weight to that of an elephant. This can
be fatal for those who choose not to wear a seat-belt. It can also prove fatal for those
front seat occupants who have occupants directly behind them that also do not wear a
seat-belt.
Children should use restraints that are suitable for their size. Use of the appropriate type
of restraint for a child’s age, height, weight and physical limitations reduces deaths of
children by between 50% and 75%.
Around half of all deaths of front seat occupants could be

prevented through the correct use of seat-belts.
Programmes that set and enforce mandatory seat-belt legislation, combined with public
education campaigns, are effective at increasing seat-belt wearing rates and thus
reducing injuries and fatalities. Seat-belt laws that are implemented through primary
enforcement are more effective in increasing wearing rates than laws implemented
through secondary enforcement.
Box 2
Strategies to bring about increased seat-belt wearing rates
Seat-belt legislation and enforcement. Introducing and enforcing a mandatory

seat-belt law is needed if rates of seat-belt wearing are to be increased and
maintained. This usually requires laws ensuring that all passenger vehicles are fitted
with appropriate seatbelts, as well as laws requiring that they are worn. In the United
States, for example, one of the strongest predictors of seat-belt use among young
drivers is a state’s seat-belt law. Between 2000 and 2004, rates of seat-belt use were
higher and fatality rates lower, in every age group, in all states that enforced a seat-
belt law compared to those that did not.
Ensuring that vehicles are fitted with appropriate seat-belts. Although rules
that require all cars to be fitted with seat-belts are now in place in most countries,
there is evidence that half or more of all vehicles in low-income countries may lack
properly functioning seat-belts. Seat-belt public awareness campaigns, laws
mandating seat-belt use should be backed up by public education campaigns. Such
campaigns may focus on young people, and can be used both to increase awareness
and to help make wearing seat-belts a social norm.
Community-based projects. Community projects can employ parents and peers to

encourage young people to wear seat-belts.
Page | 11
1.7.3 Helmets
Motorcycle and bicycle riders are at an increased risk of being involved in a crash. This is
because they often share the traffic space with fast-moving cars, buses and trucks, and
also because they are less visible. In addition, their lack of physical protection makes
them particularly vulnerable to being injured if they are involved in a collision. Therefore,
motorcycle users make up a high proportion of overall traffic injuries and death,
particularly in low-income and middle-income countries, where motorcycle ownership is
high. Injuries to the head and neck are the main causes of death, severe injury and
disability among users of motorcycles and bicycles. In some countries head injuries are
estimated to account for up to 88% of such fatalities. Helmets aim to reduce the risk of
serious head and brain injuries by reducing the impact of a force or collision to the head.
The correct use of a helmet considerably decreases the risk and severity of head injuries.
Programmes that set and enforce mandatory helmet legislation are effective increasing
helmet-wearing rates and thus reducing head injuries and fatalities.
Box 3
Helmet use in Malaysia
A study in Malaysia examined the compliance of helmet use in a typical Malaysian

town. Of the 5000 motorcyclists studied, only 54% used helmets properly, 21% used
them improperly, and 24% did not wear them at all. Younger people, men and those
with less formal education were more likely to not wear helmets properly.
Source: GRSP 2006.
1.8 Traffic law enforcement
Strong, but fair and targeted, enforcement is critical to the safe and efficient use of
urban road systems. A substantial safety benefit can be achieved if road users are
deterred from committing traffic offences. The presence of an effective police force which
is seen to enforce the law if it is broken is a primary means of ensuring safe road user
behavior. The examples of seat-belt and helmet wearing cited in the previous section are
good examples of this. Other critical aspects of behavior where substantial road safety
benefits can be achieved - if properly controlled - are vehicle speeds and drunk driving.
The main objective of enforcing traffic regulations is to deter violations and thus ensure
road safety, not to maximize the number of infringement notices issued. Police activities
should primarily increase road users’ perception of the likelihood of illegal behavior being
detected, and of being penalized if they are caught. Traffic law enforcement requires
professional skills that are different from other types of police work; therefore the
training of police officers plays an important role.
Detection and deterrence can only be achieved if the law is specific about its sanctions.
As urban road legislation varies from country to country, the main strategy should
consist of combining enforcement activities - mainly speed and alcohol controls, helmet
and seat-belt wearing - with information and awareness raising measures (see Chapter 2
of this Module). The involvement of civic and advocacy groups in this area is needed to
raise awareness towards the consequences of drink-driving or not wearing a helmet or
seat-belt.
Page | 12
For speed control two approaches of enforcement have been traditionally used: the
stationary enforcement method generally involves an observation unit more or less
hidden at the roadside and an apprehension unit, clearly visible, at which point speeding
drivers are stopped. The mobile method is the enforcement from a moving unmarked or
marked police car. The stationary method is much more cost-effective, and is
recommended here.
Box 4
Traffic safety programme in Brasília
As a planned new city, Brasília has an extensive road network, which in 1995
sustained an average traffic speed of 40 kilometres an hour (km/h), twice the national
urban average, but which also experienced 11 deaths per 1,000 vehicles. On the
recommendations of a joint working group of the secretariats of public safety and
transport, in July 1995 the governor established by decree a traffic safety program,
entitled “Peace within Traffic.” The aims of the program included:
Control of excess speeding

Control of driving under the influence of alcohol
Tighter traffic rules enforcement
Improved medical assistance to accident victims
Improved road infrastructure safety features
Vehicle safety inspection and control
Pedestrian, cyclist, and public transport priority.
Several secretariats were involved in implementing this high-level activity, which was
supported by an energetic press campaign, as well as by intensive efforts to involve
civil society. Between 1995 and 1997 the number of deaths per 1,000 vehicles fell
from 11 to 6.6, and the emphasis and benefit has been subsequently maintained.
World Bank 2002.
1.9 Organization of safety and emergency operations
The health consequences of road crashes can be influenced by preventive actions before
the crash (active safety), during the crash (passive safety) and after the crash (rescue,
treatment and rehabilitation).Health services are usually only involved after the crash,
but appropriate management of road casualties following the impact is a crucial
determinant of the chance and quality of survival. Improvements in the immediate
treatment of victims and emergency rescue systems have a great effect on road safety.
When organized ambulance systems are absent, as it is generally the case in low and
middle income countries, effective first aid at the crash site and appropriate handling of
injured people, are important. Efforts should be made to educate the public and those
commonly involved in the transport of casualties (such as taxi drivers) in the basic
actions that can be taken to preserve life and to avoid further injury to victims by
inappropriate handling.
Local authorities and employers can support first aid training both for staff and the
general public. The growing use of mobile telephones, even in countries without historic
investment in cable-based telephone systems, offers an opportunity to develop a system
of fast access to the emergency services through a telephone number which ideally
operates throughout the country. By providing basic first aid training to police, fire
services and other rescue personnel who are likely to attend road crashes, victims will
have a greater chance of survival.
Page | 13
Further reading
Lacroix, Silcock (2004); GTZ Sourcebook Module 5b
Ross, Alan et al (1991): Towards Safer Roads in Developing Countries, A Guide for
Planners and Engineers TRL, Crowthorne, Berkshire.
Global Road Safety Partnership (2006): Helmets: a road safety manual for decision-
makers and practitioners, Geneva
Global Road Safety Partnership (2007): Drinking and Driving: a road safety manual for
decision-makers and practitioners, Geneva
Global Road Safety Partnership (2008): Speed management: a road safety manual for
decision-makers and practitioners, Geneva
Global Road Safety Partnership (2009): Seat-belts and child restraints: a road safety
manual for decision-makers and practitioners, Geneva
Global Road Safety Partnership www.grsp.org
Page | 14
2. Stakeholder Participation and Public Awareness
The present Chapter deals with two issues related to people: Stakeholder participation
and public awareness. The first subchapter explains why and how the public should be
involved in transport planning and decision-making. The next two subchapters clarify the
importance of public awareness and provide a short description of various actions that
may be undertaken to raise public awareness about sustainable transport issues.
2.1 Stakeholder Participation
It is increasingly being recognized that civil society is an important agent of development

alongside the market and the State. Civil Society Organizations are important actors in
building necessary social consensus for economic reforms and long-term development, in
promoting effective governance by fostering transparency and accountability of public
institutions, and in efforts to fight inequality and exclusion. They also have an
increasingly critical role in the direct delivery of social and economic services, and in
improving natural resource management and environmental protection through collective
action.
Stakeholders are those who make decisions about resource management or are affected
by the consequences. The term "stakeholder" has evolved to mean a person or
organization that has a legitimate interest in a project or entity. Public or stakeholder
participation is one of the major preconditions for the success of sustainable transport
projects:
• Public participation is based on the belief that those who are affected by a
decision have a right to be involved in the decision-making process.
• Public participation includes the promise that the public's contribution will
influence the decision.
• Public participation promotes sustainable decisions by recognizing and

communicating the needs and interests of all participants, including decision-
makers.
• Public participation seeks out and facilitates the involvement of those

potentially affected by or interested in a decision.
• Public participation seeks input from participants in designing how they

participate.
• Public participation provides participants with the information they need to

participate in a meaningful way.
• Public participation communicates to participants how their input has affected

the decision.
2.1.1 Context and Policies
To develop more realistic and achievable transportation plans, agencies must actively
engage the public. People want to have a voice in transportation decision making for
their communities. Public participation is important to help articulate a vision and goals,
Page | 15
provide the public with the opportunity to champion a variety of transportation interests,
and receive valuable input into the planning process.
The target audience of a consultation process will be, amongst others, social groups
(such as urban citizens, urban transport users, employers and employees of urban
transport agencies), economic groups (such as local businesses), representatives of the
urban transport industry (including bicycle, public transport and car operators or
manufacturers as well as contractors); national, regional and local authorities and
relevant associations.
The advantages of citizens’ involvement can be summarized as follows:
• A creative public involvement process enables citizens to participate in

developing solutions.
• An interactive communication process informs citizens about progress in
designing and implementing solutions.
• Citizens see the result of implemented measures originating from the
consultation process.
• Citizens take ownership and change their mobility behavior.
Stakeholder involvement is the starting point for stimulating behavioral changes. By

involving those opposed to sustainable transport solutions (such as passionate car users)
in stakeholder decision-making processes, they are often converted into sustainable
movers! Stakeholders and citizens should be involved and be able to participate early in
the process. Stakeholders should be offered opportunities to influence the key stages of
the planning process. The views of stakeholders and citizens are needed before plans are
developed.
Box 5
Stakeholder participation for road charging options for London
In 1999, the Road Charging Options for London Working Group undertook a
programme of market research surveys to identify the public's attitudes to charging
options in London and their likely behavioural responses if a scheme were to be
introduced. The results revealed that Londoners considered there was too much traffic
in London, it caused congestion and pollution and it adversely affected the operation of
London businesses.
When asked which would be the single most effective solution to reduce traffic levels,
people cited traffic restraint measures as well as traffic improvements. Respondents
were then asked, "This will need to be paid for. How do you think this money should
be raised - increased public transport fares, increased council tax for Londoners,
increased income tax, increased fuel tax, increased car tax, or a charge for driving or
parking your car in parts of London?" The most popular preference was "a charge for
driving or parking in parts of London". This provided the Mayor of London with the
knowledge that the majority of Londoner's would back his congestion charge proposal
and enable him to proceed with its implementation despite the criticism of a powerful
but vocal minority of opponents.
Page | 16
2.1.2 Forms of stakeholder participation
Public participation is viewed as a tool, intended to inform planning, organizing or funding

of activities. Public participation may also be used to measure attainable objectives,
evaluate impact, and identify lessons for future practice. There are various degrees of
'delegating power to' or 'empowering' people:
• Inform: One-way dissemination of information is needed as part of the

information sharing process for stakeholders to follow work progress.
Informing, however, does not allow stakeholders to participate in the planning
process.
• Consult: A two-way communication involvement includes receiving information

and inputs, through listening and reading, and then exchanging views
regarding draft, early or outline ideas and suggestions.
• Involve: Interactive discussion and dialogue that serves as a supplement to an

existing decision-making process.
• Collaborate: Stakeholder representatives at the same table with the planners

acting as active team members in formulating and recommending alternatives.
• Partnership is cooperation where both sides hold veto power over decisions. It
is mainly used when cooperating with equal partners like NGOs and private
enterprises.
• Empower: Decisions are made by a group or organization with specific

delegation of power from the authorities: for example, youth parliaments and
local boards.
Box 6
Stakeholder participation in German planning processes
In Germany public participation in the planning process is compulsory on two levels: i)

on the level of spatial planning for large scale projects and ii) on the level of
communal land-use planning. Through this process, the public shall be enabled to
‘preserve its interests and legal positions’. By law the planning agencies are required
to provide ‘early information to the public about planning options and expected
impacts’ and grant the ‘opportunity to express themselves and debate the issues in
public’. The community decides upon the method of participation: Public assemblies
and public display of plans are most common. Increasingly, the Internet is used for e-
participation. Through the involvement of the public and the administration, the
process receives a mandatory character. Often the proposals for amendments and
objections made by the public are made in writing.
In a second phase, the municipality has to balance the individual statements by the
stakeholders with the developed plans. The administration has to justify its decision
and publish the results. An incorrect procedure may result in the revocation of the
whole plan.
Additionally, on the local level public participation is developed through informal direct
groups, such as Agenda 21, Urban Fora and Workshops.
Page | 17
2.1.3 Methods of stakeholder participation
Stakeholder participation includes a variety of means of raising awareness, identifying

objectives, agreeing criteria and policy, and building capacity to encourage people to
actively participate in developing policy options and implementing programmes. To
develop more realistic and achievable transportation plans, agencies must actively
engage the public.
• Media communications: Include information from transportation agencies;
citizens' responses including letters to editors, letters or petitions, calling in to
talk shows, televising of public meetings, web blogs, postings and networking.
• Town meetings: public forums open to all citizens where pressing issues can
be debated and deliberated upon.
• Public consultations and public Clearings: examples of top-down formats;
informational conveyances usually organized by governments.
• Committees and commissions: governments at various levels, including
public transport providers, may create special committees or commissions for
advice or even assistance in developing policies and planning.
• Study circles: formed by citizens with an interest in an area or issue that
they hope to influence or shape. It is a 'bottom-up' approach to learning and
preparation for effective participation.
• Social movements: citizens' concerns about a transportation-related matter
may be addressed through an existing social movement, as when
environmental movements include transportation matters in their agenda or
when parent associations include safe walking routes to school or 'walking
school buses' as a major concern.
• Politically oriented participation: includes 'watch-dogging', coalitions,
lobbying, litigation and political contest. Citizen 'watchdogs' might closely
follow an issue or inspire media investigations.
Box 7
Citizen report card in Bangalore, India
A report card gives a grade to the service provider based on the feedback from the
users of its services. Services can be rated on different dimensions and compared
across agencies. The dissemination of such ratings can be used as a proxy for
competition to stimulate agency leaders to improve their services. Report cards,
reinforced by advocacy campaigns by civil society groups and the media can add to
the pressure for reform.
In Bangalore, three report cards were prepared through a civil society initiative in
1994, 1999 and 2003. The first report card gave very low ratings to all the major
service providers of the city, creating a sense of shame in the process. But it did not
make an immediate impact as only a few of the providers acknowledged their
problems and took corrective action. The second report card showed that partial
improvement had occurred in some services, probably due to the actions taken by
their providers and the pressure from civil society. The third report card that followed
after four years revealed substantial improvement in almost all the service providers.
There was not only a significant increase in citizen satisfaction with the services, but
also some decline in corruption. The big question is: what caused this surprising
turnaround?
Video: Citizen report card improves urban transport in Bangalore, India:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seLgjwrebqs.
Page | 18
2.1.4 Tools for stakeholder participation
The following tools may be used to improve stakeholder participation:
• Visioning exercises to be used at the initial stages of a project, when

stakeholders and residents are asked to "visualize" their ideal community and
the features that would make up those communities. They can create a real
sense of involvement using the knowledge and understanding of local people.
• Focus Groups explore issues in depth, and bring together a cross-section of
community interests. Experienced facilitators are needed to guide the
discussions, which can be convened at any stage during the project.
• Fun Days/Mock-ups and Community Workshops are useful, not only as a
way of raising awareness of the project within the community, but also a
means of engendering a community spirit. Workshops can identify fresh skills,
as well as seeking views on design proposals.
• Topic Groups often contribute local ideas throughout the life of the project.
They can help to build consensus and seek local solutions to difficult issues.
• Planning for Real and Place Check, where residents are actively involved in
assessing their area and planning the layout of the proposals.
• On-site walk-abouts are also useful tools in getting design engineers
engaged with the local residents and stakeholders in describing proposals in
situ.
3
2.2 The Importance of Public Awareness
Sustainable urban transport measures cannot be implemented without the support of key
local stakeholders. Public awareness is vital in order to generate a vision of an alternative
future, and generate pressure for action. Public awareness activities can help to set the
public agenda and influence what is discussed amongst key government officials, at the
city council, in the media, and in the community. This influence can be substantial.
Sustainable urban transport issues touch upon peoples’ daily lives. They are also
interesting issues for the media. People will take notice of proposals to improve public
transport, walkways, and public spaces. Bus priority measures, new parking measures,
and efforts to reduce air pollution will be applied. Public awareness campaigns usually
have one or more out of these following three goals:
• To inform the public of the nature of problems and to prepare for change (e.g.
in the law),
• To change attitudes, and
• To change behavior.
Raising public awareness is needed in order to elevate the current ‘low level’ of public
debate on key policy areas. Public transport discussions often focus on symptoms rather
than the systemic deficiencies, and on cosmetic or even regressive remedial action rather
than long-term solutions. Road-building projects often proceed without open discussion
or disclosure of potential negative impacts. It is also important to as soon as possible
deepen the debate to the level of specific policy proposals. Detailed proposals should be
put forward about how to improve conditions for pedestrians in a particular area of a
city; about mobility management measures which could be applied, and so on.
3
Adapted from Pardo (2006): GTZ Sourcebook Module 1e.
Page | 19
It is people’s perceptions of the conditions and not the actual

conditions that determine their transport mode choice.
A public awareness campaign focusing on policy-makers, opinion leaders and

intermediaries (especially journalists) can promote different ways of doing things. For
example, only a few city councilors and local government officials from the developing
world would have been to Bogotá or Curitiba to learn about the successes of their
respective public transport systems. A public awareness campaign can bring them
information about these cities; showing them videos of Bogotá’s Car Free Day and
distributing information materials.
Public awareness activities, apart from providing the raw material for a policy vision can
encourage shifts in existing paradigms. Public awareness activities can help develop a
better-informed debate about public transport and can draw attention to successful
regulatory and planning models, such as in Hong Kong and many cities in Latin America.
A public awareness campaign can inform the public and policy-makers about the costs of
different public transport options; costs which otherwise may never be publicly discussed.
Figure 6
Mask parade for Earth Day in Hong Kong
“We gathered at Victoria Park wearing a decorated mouth

mask and green clothing for a FUN 1 hour Parade to Chater
Garden. We showed we care about clean air! PRIZES were
awarded for the best mouth masks!”
http://www.cleanairinitiative.org
2.3 Public Awareness Interventions4
There are three basic ‘channels’ through which the general public can be addressed: i)
informative, ii) persuasive, and iii) specific activities. This categorization comes from the
psychological elaboration of attitudes and how they are subdivided into rational,
affective, and motor components: i) Information changes knowledge, ii) persuasion
changes attitudes and iii) actions change behavior.
2.3.1 Informative Interventions
The first type of action that can be developed during a project is one of informative
nature. That is, hard facts which show that using public transport, bicycles or walking is
actually more sustainable than indiscriminately using a private motorized vehicle for all
trips. Information on spatial attributes, environmental impacts or on poverty is basic data
that should be taken into account. The format in which this information can be spread
4
Adapted from Pardo (2006): GTZ Sourcebook Module 1e.
Page | 20
most effectively is through presentations, conferences, modules, and print or digital

media that can be disseminated.
Box 8
Informative interventions on road safety
If the general level of knowledge about road safety issues is low then it is important to
provide information which both raises awareness on the issues and provides a
background against which more specific changes – for example in legislation and/or
enforcement – are more likely to be accepted by the general public. Research in the
highly motorised, high income countries shows that road safety publicity campaigns,
by themselves, have only limited impact on attitudes and behaviour. However, when
combined with other activities, especially law enforcement, the combined approach
can reduce the number and severity of injuries.
2.3.2 Persuasive Messages
The second type of intervention that can be used to change behavior in a population is
that of an affective nature. That is, anything that actually persuades people to do
something because they will feel much better when doing it. In this case, car publicity is
very much ahead of sustainable transport promotion. Private motorized vehicles have
been associated with pleasure, comfort and even happiness.
However, sustainable transport can also be easily promoted by means of persuasive or

affective messages:“…the bicycle has a positive image in many ways. It is associated
with good experiences, fresh air, sun, and summer. It is regarded as a healthy, sociable,
and environmentally-friendly mode of transport that is accessible to everyone.” In the
industrialized world, the bicycle is a vehicle that is associated closely with personal
experiences of happiness in most places, since it was usually a child’s toy or a young
person’s sports vehicle.
Also, the category of persuasive messages can include all messages related to moral,
values, and ethical standards. In the context of sustainable transport, values towards
respect of the environment, greater social equity and poverty reduction are closely
related to sustainable transport. Finally, life quality can also be taken as an argument for
persuasive messages. People will understand that an improved environmental situation,
road safety, and use of public space are factors that will influence their quality of life
positively.
Figure 7
Persuasive message for reallocation of parking space
PARK(ing) Day is a one-day, global event

where citizens, artists and activists
collaborate to temporarily transform metered
parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces:
temporary public places. The Project began
in 2005 when a single metered parking space
was converted into a temporary public park
in an area of San Francisco that is
underserved by public open space5.
Source: Park(ing) initiative
5
Source: Pardo (2006) GTZ TC Public Awareness and behavior change in sustainable transport,
http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/parkingday/.
Page | 21
2.3.3 Specific Activities
The third of the types of interventions to promote sustainable transport has to do with
actually moving, that is, using sustainable transport. It is very important to promote a
sustainable transport system while making people actually use it. Though logical as it
sounds, many awareness activities neglect this component. But the main interest of
promoting sustainable transport is to make people use public transport or bicycles that
have never done so before. Here are some examples for activities:
• Free rides on public transport: In the case of new public transport systems,
system managers have given the public initially free rides on the system. By giving
free rides, people had the chance to “try it out” without buying a ticket, and maybe
getting somewhere!
• Bicycle rides: In one example, staff from the Western Cape Ministry of Transport
(South Africa) was taken on a bicycle ride through bikeways on a car free Sunday.
They immediately came back to their office to formulate a strategy of NMT for their
cities. When Minister of Transport Tasneem Essop was asked about the activity, she
responded that she had not ridden on a bicycle since she was 8 years old, and she
had forgotten how it actually felt like.
• Car free days: A Car Free Day is a proposal for a city, neighborhood or group to
spend one carefully prepared day without cars. Such intervention has two objectives:
first, to study and observe closely what exactly goes on during that day, and then to
reflect publicly on the lessons of this experience and what might be done next.
Mayor Antanus Mockus of Bogotá (right) The Head of the Surabaya City
promotes bicycling in February 2002 Council and leading officials take
on one of Bogotá’s new cycle routes. This part in a Car Free Day held in
kind of activity also brings the mayor Surabaya on 30 May 20027.
into closer contact with citizens6
• Road safety campaigns: Means of raising awareness include various public

communication tools such as public information in the media, road side information,
road safety events, educational measures (driver education, traffic schools for
children), "Walk-To-School" events (see Box 9), and so on. Combined with
enforcement, road safety publicity campaigns improve road user behavior and reduce
road crashes.
6
Source: Fjellström, in Pardo (2006): GTZ Sourcebook Module 1e.
7
Idem.
Page | 22
Box 9
Kid walk to School campaign in the UK
The involvement of children in crashes, particularly

while travelling to and from school and in the vicinity
of their homes, is often the subject of considerable
local concern. The development of "safer routes to
school" can be effective in improving both children’s
and parents’ awareness and understanding of road
safety problems, and by making journeys to school
safer.
These kinds of projects are undertaken in

cooperation between parents, school staff and local
traffic authorities and have been implemented in
many countries and cities around the world. Safe
routes to school plans are developed to find the
roads or pedestrian roadsides which are the safest
for children, to provide a context for local
Source: Lacroix, Silcock (2004);
improvements to the road and footway network, to
GTZ Sourcebook 5b provide pedestrian crossings to improve safety and
also to identify those parts of the road network which
should be avoided. Information concerning the traffic
flow, junctions and pedestrian crossings are gathered
as well as the location of bus stops and public
transport services.
Further reading on Public Awareness and Stakeholder Participation
Pardo (2006): Raising Public Awareness about Sustainable Transport, GTZ Sourcebook
Module 1e
Pardo (2006) Public Awareness and behavior change, GTZ Training Document
Page | 23
3. Gender Issues in Urban Transport8
This Chapter is about the role women play in urban transport. The chapter explains why
women are disadvantaged in transport and which planning and design measures should
be undertaken to improve their situation.
3.1 Why gender is important for urban transport planning
Just as transportation systems define the structure of the city, gender defines the
structure of society. Gender, based on the biological construct of male and female,
differentiates economic and social roles and responsibilities. Gender is an integral part of
the broader social context interacting with class, race, ethnicity, income, education,
religion, and geographic location. Gender defines how men and women are expected to
act, dress, and behave; this includes travel behavior and patterns. In fact, travel
patterns are argued to be one of the most clearly gendered aspects of life. Women and
men have different transport needs, different travel behaviors, and different levels of
access.
To that end it is necessary to look at planning from these roles and responsibilities. If
this does not occur, transportation planning and projects will not adequately meet the
demand and there will be inefficiencies in the system. Men and women will face higher
costs in time and money. They will have a harder time accessing services and economic
opportunities. With limited transport options, people will have to forego trips, such as to
school or for health care, will have a higher incidence of absenteeism or tardiness, and
will forego employment because the costs of transport are greater than the benefit of
employment. Poor transportation systems give people no choice other than to
inefficiently allocate their time and money.
Addressing gender in urban transportation projects has the following benefits:
• It increases economic rates of return on investment in infrastructure and

increasing the profitability of mass transport systems;
• It meets the demand for transportation services through a better

understanding of the diverse needs, preferences and constraints of end users,
both women and men;
• It lowers transaction costs by optimizing the transport system for all users;
• It increases access to employment, education, and services that ultimately

raise productivity; and
• It enables women to better meet the needs of the household, for which they
have primary responsibility and ultimately strengthens the basic economic unit
(the household).
Overall goals are gender equality and mainstreaming (see Box 10). To reach those
goals, gender equity and integration become the main means and will be the focus of this
chapter.
8
Adapted from Kunieda and Gauthier (2007) GTZ Sourcebook Module 7a
Page | 24
Box 10
Basic terminology of gender sciences
Gender equality permits women and men equal enjoyment of human rights, socially
valued goods, opportunities, resources, and the benefits from development results.
Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness,
measures, such as affirmative action, must be available to compensate for historical
and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level
playing field. Gender equity strategies are used to eventually attain gender equality.
Equity is the means; equality is the result.
Gender mainstreaming is the process of assessing the implications for women and
men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in all areas and
at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and
experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic and societal spheres so
that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.
There is also a significant capacity building aspect involved in gender mainstreaming

as this process entails the transformation of the institutional procedures as well as the
organizational culture.
Gender integration means taking into account both the differences and the inequalities
between women and men in program planning, implementation, and evaluation. The
roles of women and men and their relative power affect who does what in carrying out
an activity, and who benefits from it. Taking into account the inequalities and
designing programs to reduce them should contribute not only to more effective
development programs but also to greater social equity/equality. Experience has
shown that sustainable changes are not realized through activities focused on either
women or men alone.
3.2 Female transport patterns
Generally, when compared to men, women in urban areas tend to take more and shorter
trips at more varied times. These trips are more expensive in terms of time and money.
Women tend to make more off-peak trips, travelling to more disperse locations. Since
women are more likely to be employed as informal workers, their destinations are not
necessarily concentrated in the Central Business District or in one or two main areas. As
more women than men work as domestic servants, their travel times can be much earlier
or later than the typical work day around which most public transport is planned.
Women tend to make more trips associated with their work in maintaining the household.
Women are more likely to trip chain, meaning that when they travel, they tend to have
multiple purposes and multiple destinations within one “trip”. For example, they might
be going to the market, but on the way there they might stop at day care, a pharmacy,
etc. For that reason, women tend to value flexibility over time savings in their travel
choices. This type of combined trip making is not considered in most urban transport
system designs. Women require low-cost, reliable, and consumer-friendly, flexible, door-
to-door service with many route options to meet their needs.
Page | 25
3.2.1 Modal Choice for women
In transport-user surveys in Turkmenistan, the Ashgabat Urban Transport Project found

that the use of modes of transport services is highly differentiated by gender. For
example, 28 percent of women walk to work compared to 14 percent of men; 7 percent
of women commute by car as compared to 20 percent of men; and 10 percent of women
use transport provided by the workplace as compared to 20 percent of men. Women’s
waiting times are longer than men’s and their average total journey time is 10 to 15
percent greater. Women were also found to have lower incomes. Therefore,
improvements in public transportation, and particularly, in bus and trolley services were
seen to directly serve the needs of women.
A comparison of mode choice in Johannesburg, South Africa (Figure 8) shows two basic
features. First, car usage is increasing with the social position: White citizens mostly
drive, Indians/Asians less than them, but more than Coloureds and Africans. Secondly,
black and coloured citizens walk more than Indians and Whites and use more public
means of transport. Thirdly, for Africans and Coloureds, driving cars is reserved to men,
while women are exclusively passengers. This holds not true for Indians and Whites,
where women are driving as well. However, the share of female Indian drivers is smaller
than male drivers. White citizens have fairly gender-equal modal choice.
Figure 8
Mode choice by gender in Johannesburg, South Africa
Source: Kunieda and Gauthier (2007) GTZ Sourcebook 7a
3.2.2 Women and access
Delving a little bit deeper translates into different levels of mobility. Gender differences
show very different travel behaviors and different levels of mobility and accessibility.
Accessibility is the ease with which people can travel and the ability to reach desired
goods, services, or activities. It is usually measured by using generalized costs in time,
money, and comfort. Accessibility should be the ultimate goal for transport systems, not
the level of service for the vehicles (traffic), which should be considered as one means to
the end.
Page | 26
Generally, women have a lower incidence of vehicle use, and a higher incidence of
walking. This is partly a reflection of lack of money to afford to buy vehicles or pay for
services. This reinforces women’s time poverty. Typically, men have greater mobility
when looking only at motorized modes. When considering all trips (motorized and non-
motorized), women make more trips per day (more mobility), but the costs in both time
and money are higher (less accessibility).
A study on the urban travel behavior characteristics of 13 cities across different regions
shows that, on average, women make more trips than men. Men travelled more than
women in certain stages of life (usually older) and mainly in Islamic cities. This suggests
that cultural factors, including religious behavior such as prayer or worship, influence
travel behavior.
Generally, women have a lower incidence of

vehicle use, and a higher incidence of walking.
3.2.3 Private vehicle ownership and use
Because private four-wheel motor vehicle ownership is likely to be out of reach for most
of the poorest in Africa and Asia, the vehicles most suited to enhancing personal
movement of the poor must be, by definition, of comparatively low capital value. Within
this constraint, women face an additional constraint since men are more likely to get
access to private vehicles in the household. This holds not only true for motor vehicles,
but as well for NMVs.
About 75 percent of women in the United Kingdom have no or restricted access to a car,
while with men it is only 15 percent with no or restricted access to a car. In Nairobi,
Kenya, 9 percent of women heads of households use a private car, compared to 24
percent of men. In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 6 percent of women use a car to get to work,
compared to 23 percent of men. This is also related to the degree to which women can
obtain a driver’s license.
Men are typically the first ones to motorize – co-opting new technologies first in the
household. However, there is a trickle down effect, as women gain access to older
vehicles, such as bicycles when men move to motorcycles, motorcycles when men move
to cars, etc. In Hanoi, the share of trips made by motorcycles rose by 5 to 10 percent
annually and now accounts for 37 percent of all trips. Meanwhile the share of bicycles
has fallen from 65 percent to 45 percent. Previously, women made up half of all
bicyclists. Now, they are the majority as men move to motorized means of travel.
Men are typically the first ones to motorize –

co-opting new technologies first in the household.
Page | 27
3.3 Public transport and women
After walking, public transport is the most common form of transport for both men and
women in the developing world. Women and men have different expectations of and
experiences with public transport and passenger services. Women and men tend to use
public transport at different times, with women more likely to travel at off-peak hours.
Women prefer more flexible service and have a harder time boarding and alighting,
whether it is because they are travelling with children and packages or because the steps
are too steep. Men have less aversion to overcrowding, although it affects them too.
Overcrowding becomes a security issue for women as that facilitates groping and
inappropriate behavior. Women more often than men face discrimination in transport
services. Women will also not travel in unsecure environments, such as taking a taxi
alone.
Box 11
Public transport services NOT religion are the deterrent for Karachi women
Women in Karachi seem to have some liberty to travel as only 8% of the 200 female
transport users surveyed in 2005 gave “resistance by male members of the house to
travel” as a reason for not travelling. Almost a quarter of the women surveyed listed
the limited amount of seats, and a fifth of them listed the lack of accessibility and
affordability of transportation as barriers for them in accessing transportation. 17% of
them answered that bus frequencies and low level of services, bus staff behaviour
were also deterrents to public transportation use.
Source: Kunieda and Gauthier (2007) GTZ Sourcebook 7a.
3.3.1 Security for women
Women are more vulnerable users of public space in general and this affects their ways
of using public space, including transport. Women who tend to carry packages or
children and have their hands full, are targeted and are easy prey for petty theft.
Because they can be overpowered by men, physical safety is threatened as well. Women
will change their transport behavior and have their transport options constrained if they
perceive urban transport systems or travel to be unsafe. Thus, women will make the
decision not to travel at night, not to get out at a particular spot, to take a longer route
home if it is safer. Women in Johannesburg have men escort them to the taxi ranks in
the morning when it is dark. Women will avoid using public space if there is a chance of
danger or violation. Further, if they have the opportunity to use a car for most trips
under these circumstances, they will use it.
Page | 28
Table 3
Personal security: issues for women and their behavior change strategies
Issue Strategy
Dress • Exposed to verbal harassment is • Wear only "appropriate" clothing when
wearing short skirts, shorts, or tight using public transportation
clothes
Physical • Perceived as less able to defend • Travel in groups
Strength themselves against aggressors • Only board units that are not full
Verbal • Aggressor's feeling of impunity: driver / • Ignore, look away
Harassment collector / passengers passive
Physical • Fondling and touching by men • Say "something" loudly
Harassment • Collector rubs himself against women as • Carry pins / needles
they exit the vehicle • Stand against a window or on the back
• Rape of the bus
• Avoid riding taxis alone
• Avoid riding vehicles where only men
are riding
Links to public transport are important considerations for safety in urban areas – the
journey from the door of the home to public transport, public transport itself and the
journey from public transport to the destination and back. This includes lighting both
internally for stations and vehicles, and the approach to the station. For pedestrians, land
use and landscaping is important to the perception of safety on the streets.
3.3.2 Affordability
Women account for two-thirds of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty. While
affordability of transport for the urban poor, time-saving accessibility and economic and
social equity have recently become concerns in urban transport, the reality is that
existing transport systems are often not tailored to meet the needs of the poor. The
most common intervention in urban transport has been to build roads that have only
served to exacerbate the situation and serves only the few private car owners at the
expense of the majority of the population. Poverty issues in transport are covered in
Module 1, Chapter 1.2 and Module 4, Chapter 1.5.
Women account for two-thirds of the 1.2 billion

people living in extreme poverty.
Everyone has to make choices about whether to pay or not. As a higher value is
attached to income generating trips, more often than not, men pay for transport, since it
is usually work-related. This might be one explanation - within the power dynamic of the
household - for men’s higher access to motorized means of transport. It is an economic
decision based on limited resources. For reproductive work, or the non-remunerative
work that mainly women and children undertake, the decision is usually to forego the trip
or to walk. That is why women trip-chain more than men, as they combine their
reproductive trips together to make them more affordable or link them to a work-related,
Page | 29
productive trip. Women are known to forgo an opportunity to work outside their
neighborhoods if they perceive transport fares and services to be expensive and
unreliable.
3.4 Planning of gender-specific interventions
Providing affordable and smart transport solutions can be done, but need to be based on
the differences faced by men and women living in urban areas. Policymakers should
seek improvements in transport that benefit the urban poor increasing social equity while
also improving men and women’s mobility in the urban environment.
3.4.1 Gender analysis
Gender analysis begins with recognizing that we live in societies full of gender differences
and inequalities and that each intervention has gender implications. A gender analysis
seeks to reveal the differences and inequalities by examining the situations and
relationships between women and men in a particular context and provide informed
understanding of the potential differential effects that proposed programs or projects
may have on women and men. Such information facilitates the identification of effective
strategies. This process is what makes the gender analysis a powerful and essential
gender-mainstreaming tool.
3.4.2 Collection of gender-specific data
The lack of comprehensive, accurate, disaggregated data for urban transport is the first
constraint to gender analysis. The first step in achieving gender equitable urban
transport is to disaggregate (or collect disaggregated) data by gender to enable analysis
of accessibility and understand how access differs by gender.
One reason planning decisions favor automobile-oriented improvements over non-

motorized modes or public transport is that the problems and impacts are more easily
identified, based on the existing measurable data. Conventional transportation surveys
are also to blamed since they tend to undercount non-motorized trips because they are
shorter, leisure trips, travel by children, and the walking links of motorized trips. Recent
personal transportation surveys have found that walking is about twice as common than
what previous travel surveys have indicated.
The traditional approach to understanding travel behaviors is through the household

survey – using the household as the appropriate unit of analysis. However, the
household survey assumes that a man and a woman in a household have access to the
same resources, have similar needs for transport, and will make the same travel
decisions. The main problem with this is that it ignores the division of labor within a
household and the different impact that has on the individual in a household’s transport
needs.
3.4.3 Measuring gender equity in urban transport
A measurement of gender equity in urban transport should assess the differential

impacts on men and women; the extent to which women have been able to take full
advantage of support mechanisms and opportunities offered; and how appropriate the
project assistance has been for the socially disadvantaged (women included). The project
indicators (Box 12) should assess the different role and nature of consultations and
participation among women and men, and suggest what the best organizational forms
would be for enhancing women’s roles and benefits through the project.
Page | 30
Box 12
Indicators for gender integration
-Passenger-mile by sex and age units reflect a mobility perspective that values
automobile and public transport travel, but gives less value to non-motorized modes
because they tend to be used for short trips.
- Per-trip by sex and age units reflect an access perspective which gives equal value to
automobile, public transport, cycling, walking and telecommuting.
-Transport related expenses by sex and age- lower-income households should pay a
smaller share of their income, or gain a larger share of benefits, than higher income
households and transportation modes should be affordable
-Travel time by gender and age units reflect an access perspective that gives higher
priority to walking, cycling and public transport travel, because they tend to represent
a relatively large portion of travel time.
-Existence and mechanisms of special discounts for transport services based on

income and economic need regardless of sex.
3.5 Design of gender-specific interventions
The best way to think about infrastructure design for transport is complete streets –
roads designed for all: pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users, as well as private
vehicle users. These bring benefits to all, especially the poor, of which women make up
the majority. The main features of these design interventions have been discussed in the
previous modules. For example, the promotion of Intermediate Means of Transport
(Box 13) could benefit the poor, and especially women. Other gender-specific design
features are given below.
Box 13
Impacts of bicycles on women
Intermediate Means of Transport (IMT), which range from wheelbarrows and

handcarts, to bicycles, three wheelers, animal-drawn carts, to mopeds and
motorcycles, tend to be overlooked as an efficient means of transport. But there is
some evidence that IMT provide economic benefits for women. A World Bank report
describes a situation in Ghana. Women transport oranges on their heads to villages 15
kilometres outside the capital city of Accra. In Accra, the supply of oranges is low and
the prices are high. A distance like this can easily be covered by bicycle. If these
women had bicycles, they could increase their income considerably. Furthermore, they
would then have more time and energy to cultivate their land and then increase their
production. The bicycle would increase both their sphere of activity and their transport
capacity. A bicycle can transport up to approximately 50 kilos of goods at a speed of 8
to 10 kilometres per hour (km/h) with less effort, while with walking, it is possible to
transport around 25 kilos at a speed of 3 to 4 km/h (half the load at less than half
speed). The transport capacity of the bicycle is therefore around 5 times greater than
on foot, apart from the physical energy and time saved.
Page | 31
3.5.1 Personal Security
Harassment of women in public spaces and on public transport is a real and serious
problem that impacts women’s travel behavior and patterns. Some ways to solve this
issue in public transport are greater security personnel presence on buses and cars and
at stations, a greater and gender-mixed staff presence from transport officials, a
concerted effort not to have overcrowding in cars and buses, and having women-only
carriages. Gender segregation of buses and carriages is one solution. Examples from
India and Japan are depicted below.
Figure 9: Mumbai women-only train wagon Figure 10: Women-only coaches inJapan
Source: Manfred Breithaupt and David Coll, GTZ Sourcebook Module 7a
It is equally important to think about door-to-door security. Potentially dangerous areas

are dark streets, recessed doorways and dark spaces, deserted or abandoned buildings.
Good lighting and good landscaping is extremely important on streets and around public
transport stations and terminals. By strongly aligning mixed land use policies with
transport, active spaces are created where women will not feel isolated and more
vulnerable to potential attacks. By having commercial spaces open and near to public
transport, there is a constant public presence that helps reduce possibilities for crime.
“There must be eyes on the street, eyes belonging to those we

might call the natural proprietors of the street …
they cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind.”
Jane Jacobs*
* Jane Jacobs is a Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and
decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a powerful critique of the
urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. The book has been credited with reaching beyond
planning issues to influence the spirit of the times.
Given the limited resources that governments have these days, private sector social
ventures are also providing a more secure environment. In Nairobi, Kenya, “Adopt a
Light Limited” is a company incorporated to steer advertising revenues into community
Page | 32
development. The company was inspired by the need to achieve safer cities through the
provision of adequate street lighting. Under the motto ‘Advertising with a purpose’, this
company has erected over 185 streetlights along the major highways, and in slums in
Nairobi. This rehabilitation has been undertaken by inviting businesses to adopt and
rehabilitate a streetlight. In return, the business can place advertisements on the
streetlight.
Another resource is business improvement districts, partnership in which property and

business owners of a given area decide to make a collective contribution to the
maintenance, development and marketing/promotion of their commercial district.. The
services, such as street and sidewalk maintenance, public safety officers, park and open
space maintenance, marketing, capital improvements, and various development projects
provided by the initiative are a supplement to the services already provided by the
municipality. In Johannesburg, the Central Business District private partnership has been
installing cameras and hiring private security in an effort to make the downtown a safer
and thus more attractive place for people to come and businesses to invest in.
Box 14
Integrating a gender perspective into public transport, Montreal, Canada
In Montreal, fear of violence reduces night use of public transportation by women.

Since 1992, the Comité d’Action Femmes et Securité Urbaine (CAFSU) has been
actively promoting ways to increase women’s sense of security in and access to the
urban environment—specifically by instituting in 1996 the “Between Two Stops”
service, which allows women to get off the bus at night in between scheduled bus
stops at a location closer to their destination. Because women are the principal users
of public transportation, this program generates an increase in ridership as well as
more security for all other users. Partnership of CAFSU with public authorities was key
to the project’s success. The program managed to establish strategic partnerships
between local authorities, women’s organizations and girls and women utilizing public
transportation. Success was achieved by recognizing the specific needs of women in
the overall allocation of public resources and creating a low-cost strategic policy that
transformed the economic and social lives of women. The networks of women's groups
involved in local and regional development help to publicize the service as well. On an
international scale, the service was also being promoted through the "Women in City"
program by UN Habitat.
Source: Kunieda and Gauthier (2007) GTZ Sourcebook 7a.
3.5.2 Public transport facilities
More often than men, women are usually carrying children or packages when utilizing
public transport. Deep steps make it difficult to easily board buses. A gender audit in
the United Kingdom found that step height prevented easy boarding, the lack of leg room
caused stiff knees and preventing shopping trolleys from being brought on, and that
there was insufficient storage space for shopping bags and buggies.
Good, conscientious design can improve all of these issues, including pre-paid, on-level
boarding at stations. Terminals and stations are critical to the experience of the
consumer, both women and men, including integrating other services into them. Public
toilets are an often overlooked but are a much needed transportation infrastructure
facility. Other services that can be found at public transport stops include grocery and
Page | 33
convenience stores, as well as child care facilities, such as Kid Stops which are child
daycare centers located at commuter rail stations in Maryland, USA and Tokyo, Japan,
which enable parents to easily drop off and pick up their children on their way to work.
3.5.3 Governance
In the end, it is up to the central government and local municipalities, road authorities
whether women’s urban travel needs and behaviors will be adequately considered in the
planning and implementation of gender-sensitive urban transport policies and programs
and whether women will benefit from transport infrastructure and services. Transport
governance should be transparent, approachable so that women will be interested and
perhaps involve themselves in improving transport infrastructure and services.
3.6 Conclusion on gender and urban transport
Integrating gender into urban transport does not require extra effort; it is just a matter
of extra perspective. Transport is not gender neutral and it is time for transport policy-
makers and experts to stop assuming it is. It is time to think of how to make urban
transport smart and affordable, giving people real choices and real access to opportunity
and a better quality of life. The benefits will not only be the people of the city – both
women and men, but the city as a whole as it becomes more competitive in the global
market place and more efficient in providing services to its citizens.
“The point of cities is multiplicity of choice.”
Jane Jacobs
When planning and setting indicators for an urban transport project or program, don’t
think about just access abstractly, but access for whom - who wins and who loses. The
solutions are out there; it is up to you to ask the right questions to identify the problems
affecting the public – both women and men – and then to provide smart and affordable
transportation alternatives for them.
• Think who will be affected by a particular policy or project, such as reduction

in traffic congestion delay, an increase in public transport trip speeds, or a
reduction in barriers to non-motorized travel.
• Imagine and define the “public” you are thinking about.
• Ask how this will impact the different intended beneficiaries – the poor, the
disabled, and the elderly.
• Imagine using the services from your audience’s perspective – as a women

carrying a baby with another child in tow, as a man who lives in the periphery
who needs to get to work in the morning, as a girl trying to get to school, as
elderly people pushing their shopping trolleys.
• Is there a way to provide integrated and inclusive transport facilities and

services?
Page | 34
Box 15 provides a basic gender and urban transport checklist that may be used when
planning for urban transport interventions. Retrofitting existing urban facilities to become
gender, age or disability considerate can be very expensive and may discourage some
municipalities or companies in investing more on making their transport infrastructure
and services more accessible. Time and cost savings can be achieved just by having the
vision and political will of making urban transport more accessible to all before
implementing the project.
Box 15
Basic gender and urban transport checklist
1. Has the urban transport program or project identified male and female
participants, clients and stakeholders?
2. Has baseline data been collected and analyzed on gender relations, roles and
identities within the urban environment and the use of transport?
3. Has the urban transport program or project taken into consideration the analysis
of gender relations, roles and identities and introduced a component or transport
measure to address a gender issue?
4. Has the urban transport program or project developed an indicator that
measures gender specific outcomes and evaluate the effectiveness of the
component or measure designed to address the above-mentioned gender issue?
5. Has transportation planning been based on local conditions and specific and local
needs of men, women, youth, elderly and the disabled? Have statistics and
situations in industrialized countries been referenced and adapted to reflect the
needs and resources in developing countries?
6. Have jobs and social services been brought closer to men and women by
developing accessible land use patterns?
7. Has the issue of personal mobility and access of non-drivers, of which a majority
are women and the elderly, been thought through? Have policy, planning or
investment practices that favor automobile travel over other modes or lead to
automobile dependency been avoided?
8. Have the implications of policies and projects that degrade pedestrian and
cycling conditions, such as new highways that divide existing communities or
eliminate walkways been considered? Have measures been implemented to
control vehicle traffic volumes and speeds, particularly in urban neighborhoods?
9. Has the participation of various stakeholders in the transportation planning and
decision making been facilitated?
10. Has comparative advantage been given to traditionally socially and transport
disadvantaged by applying full-cost pricing to automobile travel, road pricing,
parking pricing and fuel taxes and distance-based charges?
11. Provide transportation consultation and information on transportation choices
available.
12. Have you looked at the proportion of females into the transportation field? Has
gender been integrated in engineering education and measures put in place to
groom women’s leadership in transport planning?
Page | 35
Further reading on Gender in Urban Transport
Kunieda and Gauthier (2007) Gender and Urban Transport. GTZ Sourcebook
Module 7a
Page | 36
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Module 6 Safety and Social issues

Sustainable Urban Mobility

Copyright: Copyright © 2010

Opinions expressed in this volume are those of the authors and

The designations employed and the presentation of material in

This publication is protected by international copyright law. All

This Course on Sustainable Urban Mobility in Developing Countries is designed to

Module 1: Urban Growth and Strategies for Sustainable Urban Transport

Local Development Programme

This course on Sustainable Urban Mobility in Developing Countries has been

1. URBAN ROAD SAFETY ............................................................ 1

1.1 Poor road safety as a major health problem................................................. 1

1.2 Accident control and its effects .................................................................... 3

1.3 Organization of local road safety ................................................................. 4

1.4 Assessing the problems ............................................................................... 5

1.5 Safer roads .................................................................................................. 6

1.6 Vehicle safety .............................................................................................. 9

1.7 Driver behavior ......................................................................................... 10

1.8 Traffic law enforcement ............................................................................. 12

1.9 Organization of safety and emergency operations ..................................... 13

2. STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION AND PUBLIC AWARENESS ... 15

2.1 Stakeholder Participation .......................................................................... 15

2.2 The Importance of Public Awareness ........................................................ 19

2.3 Public Awareness Interventions ............................................................... 20

3. GENDER ISSUES IN URBAN TRANSPORT ............................... 24

3.1 Why gender is important for urban transport planning .............................. 24

3.2 Female transport patterns ......................................................................... 25

3.4 Planning of gender-specific interventions .................................................. 30

3.5 Design of gender-specific interventions ..................................................... 31

3.6 Conclusion on gender and urban transport ................................................ 34

Figure 1: World share of road fatalities and vehicle population .................................... 1

Box 1: Road safety audits...................................................................................... 6

Table 1: Matrix for injury control: Example of motorcycle safety ................................. 3

ALS Area Licensing Scheme

1. Urban Road Safety2

1.1 Poor road safety as a major health problem

Most of the road deaths and injuries are preventable.

1.2 Accident control and its effects

Source: Statistisches Bundesamt 2010

As an example, measures available to increase motorcycle safety are listed in Table 1.

Personal Vehicle Road environment

1.3 Organization of local road safety

Difficult political decision-making processes, other issues such as the management of

• Understand and consider the local situation and circumstances;

The role of local authorities in reducing road casualties is crucial.

Widely acknowledged strategies to improve urban road safety include:

• Coordinating road safety policies;

1.4 Assessing the problems

Well-designed measures, based on an analysis of crash records,

Analysis systems should enable investigators to identify, for example, involvement of

By creating a working group or commission, composed of representatives of all local

1.5 Safer roads

1.5.1 Road Design

It is important to recognise that this process:

- Is formal and independent of the design and construction teams,

They often include:

Rank Measure First year rate of return %

Source: Lacroix, Silcock (2004); GTZ Sourcebook Module 5b

Source: Koehler, GTZ Sourcebook Module 5b

1.5.2 Protection of vulnerable road users

Measures to benefit non-motorized transport users must be developed within broad

1.5.3 Speed Management

The probability of a pedestrian fatality reduces from 85% with