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Building Bridges: Using Cultural Brokers to Enhance the Road Safety of Newcomers

Author(s): Anne Marie Hayes

Slidedeck Presentation Only (no paper submitted):

4A Hayes_Building Bridges Using Cultural Brokers to Enhance the Road Safety of Newcomers

Abstract:

Canada has over 200 ethnic groups and welcomes an average of 250,000 immigrants annually.  Data has shown that recent immigrants are at especially high risk of injury as motor vehicle occupants, yet many in these groups are missing out on the benefits of road safety promotion.  The need to ensure that road safety communications are effectively targeted in a multicultural context is a significant challenge.  Safety Drives Us, a partnership between community leaders, settlement agencies, public health authorities, police agencies and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, used focus groups to investigate perceptions of risks, and the impact of gender norms and fatalistic attitudes on road safety.  ‘Cultural Brokers’ were found to be an effective way to explore cultural variations in road safety-related attitudes and behaviours and to identify barriers to safety.  The findings are used to develop culturally competent and effectively targeted road safety education.