Road Safety

We are actively working in each of the five pillars of the Decade of Action`s initiative: Road Safety Management, Safer Roads and Mobility, Safer Vehicles, Safer Road Users and Post-Crash Response.

TRL works with lead agencies and national road safety councils all over the world to develop and deliver national road safety strategies and action plans. Recently in the UK, Qatar and Abu Dhabi our advice has led to the setting of national casualty reduction targets.

TRL works closely with clients across all road safety sectors to develop evidence-led strategies and interventions. We place an emphasis on using data and research to underpin effective policy and approaches that save lives. Our iMAAP and MAAPcloud systems have been developed in recognition of the importance of evidence-led working and use the latest technology for the collection, storage, analysis and reporting of crash data. TRL`s expertise in data analysis enables us to undertake robust evaluation to establish whether interventions that have been implemented are effective at improving road safety, and to ensure they provide the evidence increasingly sought by road safety practitioners on what works.

Safer Roads and Mobility

Our team of highly experienced road safety engineers create tools and manuals to support road authorities in their efforts to introduce methods to improve the safety of new roads through the design and construction process, and in their efforts to treat high risk locations across the existing road network. TRL regularly undertakes road safety audits, speed limit reviews, road safety inspection and assessment, and data analyses to identify high risk locations as priorities for treatment. TRL`s expertise in this area is also highly applicable to private companies and private sites.

Safer Road Users

Road and vehicle engineering measures can only go so far in the prevention of road deaths and injuries; at the heart of road safety is the road user. We need to understand the way people behave, and their attitudes towards those behaviours we wish to encourage (for example, wearing seat belts) and discourage (for example, speeding). When we understand why people behave in the ways they do, we can begin to understand how to change this, either through enforcement, engineering, or other ways of encouraging behavioural change.

Over the years, TRL has undertaken research with car drivers, professional drivers (such as HGV drivers), and vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, pedestrians, and cyclists. Within this research, high-risk groups or groups with specific needs have also been a key focus; these have included children, young drivers, older drivers, and people with disabilities. Our psychologists use formal models of behaviour and performance from all areas of psychology to better understand what can be done to influence and change behaviour.

Education also plays a vital role and is a major part of TRL`s safety programme. By clarifying the aims of educational interventions, the way they fit into a comprehensive approach including engineering and enforcement, and their limitations, TRL can ensure that such educational interventions are fit for purpose. A final key theme for TRL research is evaluation. We have undertaken numerous evaluations of road safety interventions of all kinds; such evaluation is critical if we are to understand how effective interventions are at achieving their objectives.

International Road Safety

We work with Governments, donor and aid organisations to deliver solutions aligned with international best practice such as Safe System based approaches. Globally, road transport systems are developing rapidly and our team provides effective and practical solutions for the challenges associated with the improvement of access by road in a safe and sustainable manner.