Road Traffic Injury Prevention and Control: Behavioral, Forensic, and Public Health Approaches

Road traffic injuries remain one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, disproportionately affecting young people, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and other vulnerable road users. In addition to their immediate human consequences, road traffic crashes impose a substantial burden on healthcare systems, emergency services, families, and national economies. This burden is particularly significant in low- and middle-income countries, where road safety infrastructure, injury surveillance systems, and access to emergency and rehabilitation services may be limited. Reducing road traffic injuries requires more than isolated technical or educational measures; it requires an integrated, evidence-based approach that connects behavioral science, forensic investigation, injury epidemiology, and public health policy.Driver behavior, risk perception, and human factors are important determinants of crash occurrence and injury risk. Research has shown that drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users may misjudge risk in complex or unfamiliar environments, including tunnels, work zones, high-speed corridors, and areas shared by motorized and non-motorized transport. Forensic and medico-legal investigations of road traffic injuries provide important evidence regarding injury mechanisms, injury patterns, severity, and causes of death. Such evidence can inform prevention strategies, vehicle and road safety standards, emergency medical response, and post-crash care. At the population level, public health surveillance systems provide essential data for monitoring injury trends, identifying high-risk groups and locations, evaluating interventions, and guiding the allocation of resources for injury prevention and control.This Research Topic aims to advance interdisciplinary research on road traffic injury prevention and control by bringing together contributions from traffic and transport engineering, forensic medicine, psychology, epidemiology, emergency medicine, rehabilitation, and public health. To gather further insights into the behavioral, forensic, epidemiological, and policy dimensions of road traffic injury prevention and control, we welcome original research articles, systematic and narrative reviews, policy analyses, and case studies addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:Driver, pedestrian, cyclist, and motorcyclist behavior, risk perception, and human factors associated with crash and injury riskForensic and medico-legal analysis of road traffic injury mechanisms, patterns, severity, and fatal outcomesEpidemiological surveillance, injury trends, risk factors, and burden assessmentPrevention and control interventions involving education, road and vehicle engineering, enforcement, and emergency responsePublic health policies, governance, legislation, and multisectoral approaches to road safetyInjury data systems, reporting methods, and integration of police, hospital, forensic, and public health dataEmergency medical care, trauma management, rehabilitation, and long-term outcomes following road traffic injuriesSafety of vulnerable road users, including children, older adults, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclistsRisk assessment in tunnels, work zones, urban environments, rural roads, and high-speed transport corridorsApplications of artificial intelligence, simulation, predictive modelling, and other technologies in road traffic injury preventionEvaluation of road safety programmes and the implementation of evidence-based injury control strategiesBy integrating behavioral, forensic, and public health perspectives within a shared injury prevention and control framework, this Research Topic seeks to generate scientifically robust and practically relevant evidence to reduce the global burden of road traffic injuries and support the development of safer, healthier, and more resilient transport systems. Topic editors: Aleksandar Trifunović, Živana Slović Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85589/road-traffic-injury-prevention-and-control-behavioral-forensic-and-public-health-approaches