ESRA (E-SURVEY OF ROAD USERS’ ATTITUDES) is a joint international initiative of research organisations and road safety institutes coordinated by Vias institute.
Aim & objectives
Aim of the project is to provide scientific support to road safety policy making at the national and international levels. By using a uniform sampling method and an identical questionnaire, comparability of results across all participating countries is assured.
It is the intention of the ESRA consortium to repeat this survey on a triennial basis. A core set of questions is retained in every edition of the survey; this allows the development of a time series of road safety performance indicators.
Evolution
The ESRA project started with 17 countries in 2015, and had grown to 38 countries in 2017. The evolution of the ESRA initiative is illustrated in the figure below.
Methodology & questionnaire
Following a careful consideration of different options, the ESRA consortium opted for a web survey, which was completed by respondents from internet access panels.
In each country, an online survey is conducted using representative samples (N=1,000) of the national adult populations. The developed common questionnaire (UK English) is translated/adapted into national language version(s). The questionnaire covers four main road safety topics: speeding, driving under influence, distraction/fatigue, and protective system in different road safety themes.
The first edition of the ESRA survey (ESRA1) was carried out in three waves between 2015-2017. Currently, the second edition (ESRA2) is being prepared. The field work for the first wave will be carried out in June 2018. If you are interested in joining this edition, please contact us!
Main target groups
- Car drivers
- Moped drivers and motorcyclists
- Cyclists
- Pedestrians
Main road safety topics
- Driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs
- Speeding
- Protective system (Seat belt and child restraint systems)
- Distraction/fatigue
Main themes
- Use of different transport modes
- Acceptability of safe and unsafe traffic behaviour
- Support for policy measures
- Self-declared safe and unsafe behaviour in traffic
- Attitudes towards safe and unsafe traffic behaviour
- Subjective safety and risk perception
- Involvement in road crashes
- Enforcement
- Other items (e.g. socio-demographic information)
- Vehicle automation (new)
- Open questions to be chosen by national partners (new)