Community participation in road safety: Barriers and enablers

The objectives of the paper were to identify, barriers to community partici pation in road safety activities and to recommend strategies to reduce thos e barriers. Information was obtained from: a review of relevant literature, from the authors' extensive community-based experiences, from undertaking community-based research, and from interviews with key stakeholders in road safety in Western Australia. Ten significant barriers to community partici pation were identified. These are classified into two groups: personnel and planning issues. The former includes: reasons why people are often relucta nt to become involved in projects in their communities, a lack of leadershi p, and a lack of skills. The latter includes: inappropriate program foci, i nappropriate program evaluation, lack of resources, and a lack of sustainab ility. It was concluded that the barriers to community involvement in road safety initiatives are similar in many parts of Australia and overseas and apply to a wide range of health promotion interventions besides road safety . Awareness of the barriers and knowledge of their solutions can ensure tha t appropriate steps are taken to maximise the likelihood of community parti cipation.