In a recent blog post, we shared a national survey focused on Road Safety Strategies on behalf of Dr Joao Canoquena of Queensland University of Technology.
Dr Canoquena has been in touch after he's rceived feedback and made changes to the survey accordingly. Here's what he had to say...
Thank you for providing me with some invaluable feedback about the survey I am conducting, especially about Section A. Your feedback is highly appreciated. I have acted on your feedback.
The first section of the survey forms part of a qualitative study. The idea with this section of the survey is to generate strategies for the various generic features of strategy effectiveness. This has been achieved successfully. Thank you. More information can be found here.
Whilst it was rather frustrating to think of and then write down road safety strategies, the first section could not have been designed differently, at the risk of losing invaluable data for each of the safety aspects being studied e.g. pedestrian safety, cyclist safety, motorcyclist safety etc. See the initial results attached. These are much richer than the matrix currently in place (revisit the survey, please). If you have completed the survey, do not complete it again, please. The attached sheets will help to interpret the commonalities in the public perception of strategy effectiveness. The validity in this exercise lies in the fact that the answers were not assisted, thus representing valid data. The information attached will also help to draw a wide range of inferences about the public perceptions of strategy effectiveness, especially when the answers in the attachment are combined with Section B of the survey.
The feedback about the initial version continued to pour in even after an initial change. I have now made the final changes, which I believe will not impact the research being conducted adversely. I have made two changes today to Section A in response to some invaluable feedback from some of the participants.
Section C has also raised some queries. In Section C, the survey authors do not seek to highlight negativity about MDTs. Please, refer to the previous report about the 544 public submissions to the national road safety strategy. I forwarded this report to you back in March 2019.
MDTs are a very effective way to manage drug use by the road user population. However, the research seeks to establish if there are areas for improvement. Furthermore, the whole idea of the research is to create a list of features of effective road safety strategies such as the list below:
- The strategy enjoys public support
- The information available about the strategy is detailed
- The strategy promotes alternatives to crime (breach of the road rules) e.g. public transport when under the influence
- The information about the strategy is widely available
- The information available about the strategy is accurate
- The strategy emphasises support and assistance rather than punishment
- The target groups participate in strategy development (co-design)
- The strategy discourages crime (breaches of the road rules)
- The strategy is tailored to local circumstances etc. [how long could this list be? This is the focus of the research.]
As stated above, I have changed Section A twice today. I have gathered good data from its previous version, which are going to feed into a qualitative study. Now, the focus is on getting more participants for the survey. Cate Hughes is going to place the survey on Facebook. Thank you, Cate. Your support is much appreciated. In addition, Queensland's Main Roads have asked for a copy of the studies. More support is needed.
I have noticed that some support has waned off a bit. The survey is no longer featured on the front pages of some of the institutions supporting it. I understand that this may be due to the need to upload more recent news. In addition, some institutions are refusing to pass the survey on to their staff or members/agents.
I was wondering, if there was a way of finding a corner on your website or newsletter for a small link to the survey on the front page. This small act can help the survey enormously.
Here is the survey link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeSvZ7T0_p8tan2e6my80m3zSbosgjJTP9JhWxEPgcwOfVt1A/viewform?usp=sf_link
Yours sincerely, Jaoa.
