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How can regulatory authorities improve safety in organizations by influencing safety culture? A conceptual model of the relationships and a discussion of implications
No full textRegulators have increasingly started to focus on safety culture. The causal link between regulatory initiatives to improve safety culture and a potential decline in accidents may, however, appear like a “black box”, involving social processes that seem hard to foresee and influence. We need a better conceptual understanding of this. The aims of our study are to: 1) Map studies of regulatory efforts to influence safety culture in companies, 2) Use the identified studies to develop a conceptual model of the analytical relationships between regulatory initiatives to improve safety culture and accidents in these studies, including the factors influencing these analytical re-lationships and 3) discuss practical implications. The review is reported according to PRISMA-guidelines, and focuses on professional transport (aviation, sea, rail, road) and the Norwegian petroleum sector. Our review indicates at least six analytical relationships, mediating between regulatory attempts to influence organizational safety culture and accidents. These are between: 1) Rules and regulators, 2) Regulators and companies, 3) Managers and employees in the companies, 4) Organizational members’ shared ways of thinking and acting, which are the two key elements of safety culture, 5) Safety culture and safety behaviour, and between 6) Safety behaviour and accidents. Regulatory attempts to influence safety culture may fail or succeed at each level, through factors involved in the different relationships.publishedVersio
EE Settlement – Norwegian Model Description. Theoretical background, methodology, reference values, and data sources
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Planning for climate-friendly transport in Norwegian rural areas
No full textAnders Tønnesen, Marianne Knapskog, Maja Karoline Rynning, Kyrre Groven, Planning for climate-friendly transport in Norwegian rural areas, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Volume 102, 2022, 103156, ISSN 1361-9209, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2021.103156 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136192092100451X)This paper addresses how local land-use planning can facilitate climate-friendly transport in rural areas. Studies were conducted in four Norwegian municipalities with populations between 4400 and 10,600. 11% of the country’s population live in municipalities in this range. Understanding transport and planning in such settings is essential to reach climate goals. We highlight challenges of changing the built environment to facilitate climate-friendly transport. The contestation involves actor interests relating to the preservation of parking regimes, to the sensitivity of strengthening of climate-friendly transport’s competitiveness at the expense of car driving, and the difficulty of handling season-based variations in rural-centre management. The potential of rural policy packages to handle measures, actors and needs of different traveller groups in integration is crucial. We also argue that climate-friendly transport should not be based on a one-dimensional strategy of rural-centre densification but also consider how the built environment gives access for different transport modes.publishedVersio
Approaches to ‘vulnerability’ in eight European disaster management systems
Get PDFOrru, K., Hansson, S., Gabel, F., Tammpuu, P., Krüger, M., Savadori, L., Meyer, S.F., Torpan, S., Jukarainen, P., Schieffelers, A., Lovasz, G. and Rhinard, M. (2022), Approaches to ‘vulnerability’ in eight European disaster management systems. Disasters, 46: 742-767. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12481While social vulnerability in the face of disasters has received increasing academic attention, relatively little is known about the extent to which that knowledge is reflected in practice by institutions involved in disaster management. In this study, we chart the practitioners’ approaches to disaster vulnerability in eight European countries: Germany, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Estonia. The study draws from a comparative document analysis and 95 interviews with disaster managers and reveals significant differences across countries in terms of the ontology of vulnerability, its sources, reduction strategies, and the allocation of related duties. To advance the debate and provide conceptual clarity, we put forward a model for explicating different understandings of vulnerability along the dimensions of human agency and technological structures as well as social support through private relations and state actors.acceptedVersio
Entering, enduring and exiting: the durability of shared mobility arrangements and habits
Get PDF{Brendan J. Doody and Tim Schwanen and Derk A. Loorbach and Sem Oxenaar and Peter Arnfalk and Elisabeth M. C. Svennevik and Tom Erik Julsrud and Eivind Farstad}, {Entering, enduring and exiting: the durability of shared mobility arrangements and habits}, {Mobilities}, {17}, {4}, {484-500}, {2022}, {Routledge}, {10.1080/17450101.2021.1958365}Car sharing could support a transition away from private vehicle ownership and use. Attempts to understand participation in car sharing have primarily focused on minor and major disruptions which catalyse change in practices. This paper examines how processes of entering, continuing or exiting car sharing systems unfold in Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Car sharing is conceptualised as an arrangement of elements assembled, adjusted and supported by events, practices and habits. Drawing on biographically-oriented household interviews, we build on and extend existing understandings of change and stability in car sharing in four ways. First, by focusing on households rather than individual users, the paper complements recent attempts to understand the decoupling of family and private-car-based mobility. Second, under-examined processes of exiting, alongside entry and continuation are considered. Third, it highlights the importance of recognising more imperceptible, gradual and continuous changes which might not necessarily coincide with a disruptive event. Fourth, habits of shared car arrangements are demonstrated to be fragile and not as deeply ingrained as those associated with ownership. Existing household practices and habits thus raise further questions about the potential for shared mobility services to disrupt the primacy of the car.acceptedVersio
Safety Effects of Horizontal Curve Design and Lane and Shoulder Width on Single Motorcycle Accidents in Norway
Get PDFSara Kvasnes, Petr Pokorny, Jan Kristian Jensen, Kelly Pitera, "Safety Effects of Horizontal Curve Design and Lane and Shoulder Width on Single Motorcycle Accidents in Norway", Journal of Advanced Transportation, vol. 2021, Article ID 6684334, 11 pages, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6684334Factors related to the road infrastructure contribute to the occurrence of motorcycle accidents. This study investigates how design parameters of the existing rural two-lane road network in Norway influence the occurrence of single motorcycle accidents. The design elements considered in this study are horizontal curvature (curve type, degree of curvature, and adjacent curve requirements) and lane and shoulder widths. A matched case-control study design was applied to investigate the safety effects of these elements. Cases were defined as segments experiencing at least one single motorcycle accident during the study period from 2013 to 2017, while controls were defined as segments not experiencing an accident in the same period. In order to identify the segments, a GIS analysis was performed on data collected from the National Road Database (NVDB). In case-control studies, matching allows us to control for confounding variables. AADT and speed limit were used as matching variables in this study. A matching ratio of 4 : 1 (i.e., four controls per case) was used, resulting in 752 controls being matched to 188 cases. The results indicate horizontal alignment to have a more significant effect on single motorcycle accidents compared to lane and shoulder widths. Segments with several adjacent reverse curves, with high curvature (R < 200 m), have high odds for an accident. Further, if the requirements for adjacent curves are not fulfilled (i.e., considerable variation in adjacent curve radii), the odds increase even more. While the results are not statistically significant, trends seen indicate that wider lanes were associated with increased odds for an accident, while wider shoulders were associated with decreased odds. In comparison with a similar study considering passenger vehicles, the results of this study also indicate that horizontal alignment has a greater effect on single motorcycle accidents than on passenger vehicle accidents.acceptedVersio
Local Representation and Voter Mobilization in Closed-list Proportional Representation Systems
Get PDFWe investigate whether geographic representation affects local voting behavior in closed-list proportional representation (PR) systems, where conventional theoretical wisdom suggests a limited role of localism in voter preferences. Using detailed data on Norwegian parliamentary candidates' hometowns, we show that parties engage in geographic balancing when constructing candidate lists. However, because most districts contain more municipalities than seats, not all municipalities will ultimately see a local candidate elected. A regression discontinuity design applied to marginal candidates reveals that parties obtain higher within-district support in subsequent elections in incumbents' hometowns — novel evidence of "friends-and-neighbors" voting in an otherwise party-centered environment. Exploring the mechanisms, we find that represented municipalities often continue to have locally-connected candidates in top positions, in contrast to municipalities with losing candidates, and are more frequently referenced in legislative speeches. There is no evidence that unequal representation creates inequalities in distributive policies.acceptedVersio
Integrated weather effects on e-cycling in daily commuting: A longitudinal evaluation of weather effects on e-cycling in the Netherlands
Get PDFWhile in many regions the conventional bicycle has already been regarded as an environmentally friendly and healthy alternative to the car for daily commuting, societal and policy agendas are also increasingly promoting e-bike adoption. Adding to recent research on e-bike safety, satisfaction with travel and behavioral change, this paper reports on the impact of weather circumstances on the use of the e-bike in daily commuting in an e-cycling incentive program in the province of Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands. The impact of this incentive program was analyzed using a longitudinal design, and it combined travel patterns that were derived from individuals’ GPS data over nine months, hourly observed meteorological data, and questionnaires on intended behavior and sociodemographic characteristics. The findings suggest that the presence of snow and ice, total precipitation, and high windspeed negatively affected the choice of commuting to work by e-bike, in this decreasing order of impact. Although the overall impact of air temperature on e-cycling was positive, the likeliness to commute by e-bike decreased at higher air temperatures. E-cycling under specific weather conditions was more likely if participants’ intention to e-cycle under such weather conditions was stronger. Our study indicates that the benefits of the e-bike in daily commuting are underestimated in relation to adverse weather conditions. Respondents from households with one car only, therefore, have fewer alternatives in poor weather conditions: for these individuals, only total precipitation and the presence of relatively low air temperature impact e-cycling. In addition, reported gender and high wind speeds might have been expected to influence participation in e-cycling.publishedVersio
The illusion of absence: how a common feature of magic shows can explain a class of road accidents
Get PDFCitation: Ekroll, V., Svalebjørg, M., Pirrone, A. et al. The illusion of absence: how a common feature of magic shows can explain a class of road accidents. Cogn. Research 6, 22 (2021).The purpose of the present note is to draw attention to the potential role of a recently discovered visual illusion in creating traffic accidents. The illusion consists in a compelling and immediate experience that the space behind an occluding object in the foreground is empty. Although the illusion refers to a region of space, which is invisible due to occlusion (a blind spot), there is evidence to suggest that it is nevertheless driven by visual mechanisms and that it can be just as deceptive and powerful as ordinary visual illusions. We suggest that this novel illusion can make situations involving blind spots in a road user's field of view even more dangerous than one would expect based on the lack of visibility by itself. This could be because it erroneously makes the road user feel that (s)he has actually seen everything there is to see, and thus has verified that the blind spot is empty. This hypothesis requires further testing before definitive conclusions can be drawn, but we wish to make researchers and authorities involved in the analysis of traffic accidents and on-the-spot crash investigations aware of its potential role in order to encourage registration of relevant data and facilitate further research.publishedVersio