This report was prepared by PIARC Technical Committee C3. It consists of 101 pages, including 40 pages of appendices (appendix A consists of 4 case-studies while appendix B presents the results of a survey on perception and social acceptance of risks).
Chapter 1 presents the factors influencing risk perception of the general public: the catastrophic potential, the familiarity and knowledge of the topic, institutional trust, media attention and impact on children.
Chapter 2 presents the key categories of risk perception for road operations: those that are linked to the road itself, those that are related to the user with criteria of age, gender, profession, driving experience and finally the type of user – driver, motorcyclist, cyclist or pedestrian.
Besides media impact of major incidents on the general public, culture has been identified as a major factor that influences risk perception. Chapter 3 shows that attitudes to risk depend largely on national cultural features.
Among the recommendations outlined in chapter 4, the necessity of a pro-active communication of the road authorities about risk towards users is highlighted in order to foster institutional trust.