Factors and frames that shape public discourse around road user safety

In this study of media frames of traffic crashes, the team discovered that broadcast TV news agencies’ Facebook posts featuring the people involved in or witnessing of crash events were associated with more frequent and deeper engagement with the material on Facebook. However, not all road user groups were associated with greater public engagement with crash-featuring news agencies’ Facebook posts. Posts featuring more vulnerable road users, such as older adults, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists were associated less engagement among TV news agencies’ Facebook audiences. Further, a dominant framing of crashes in new agencies’ Facebook posts presented them as phenomena that delay motor vehicle traffic (Class 1 reporting patterns). Such framing holds the potential to orient the public’s attention away from the grim and inequitable reality of road trauma in the United States. Promisingly, however, were study findings that the employment of victim narratives and thematic frames—elements more common in Class 2 reporting patterns—was associated with more engagement with posts. This study illustrates that if the United States is to ameliorate road trauma, members of the news media, and professionals in transportation and public health can and must coordinate their actions. One place to start might be telling inspiring and pragmatic stories about how safety investments can benefit everyone and in copious ways.