Culture as mechanism: introducing the cultural road safety model (CRSM) for low- and middle-income countries

Abstract

Road traffic injuries disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Although traffic safety culture, social norms, and normalisation of deviance have received increasing attention, the processes through which cultural conditions may generate and reproduce road behaviour remain insufficiently integrated into dominant road safety frameworks. This paper proposes the Cultural Road Safety Model (CRSM), a preliminary conceptual framework for examining these processes. CRSM conceptualises the driver as a cultural agent and considers the cultural conditions underlying persistent unsafe practices. The framework draws on behavioural, criminological, organisational change, and relational perspectives, with ubuntu providing the philosophical foundation operationalised for this paper's Southern African context. It proposes a five-phase pathway comprising cultural diagnosis, policy alignment, community engagement, pilot implementation, and institutionalisation. Three propositions concerning diagnostic alignment, community anchoring, and cross-domain deviance are advanced for empirical testing. The proposed cultural dimensions offer further opportunities for empirical measurement. As a conceptual contribution, CRSM offers a theoretical foundation for future empirical validation and refinement.