7/1 Webinar: Traffic Crashes As Seen On TV: An Opportunity to Reshape the Dialogue Around Road User Injury

June 21, 2021

Traffic Crashes As Seen On TV: An Opportunity to Reshape the Dialogue Around Road User Injury

Thursday, July 1, 2021
11am - 12pm PT |

The Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety (CSCRS) is hosting a webinar on July 1, "Traffic Crashes As Seen On TV: An Opportunity to Reshape the Dialogue Around Road User Injury" as part of a bimonthly webinar series that focuses on multidisciplinary research and practices to advance transportation safety.

Webinar Description
The way TV news stations cover traffic crashes and injuries both shape and are shaped by public perceptions about what is normal, right, and just about our transportation systems. News media frames tell us who was involved in traffic crashes, who is responsible for them, and often imply what might be done to address road user injury. CSCRS researchers Seth LaJeunesse—with the UNC Highway Safety Research Center—and Sydney Nicolla—with the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media—along with a multi-disciplinary UNC research team analyzed more than 1,000 crash-featuring TV news stories in the U.S., spanning the years 2012-2019. Findings reveal clear patterns of reporting, such as focusing on traffic congestion, placing responsibility solely on road users, and treating most crashes as isolated from other crashes. Seth and Sydney will share details on the study’s methods, findings, and their development of a Media Framing Guide designed to motivate transportation and public health professionals to work with news journalists to help shape the narrative around traffic injury. Learn more about this project here.

Presenters:

  • Seth LaJeunesse, UNC Highway Safety Research Center
  • Sydney Nicolla, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media

Effective communications about road safety, whether in the media, in safety campaign materials or in community outreach efforts, play an important role in ensuring safe mobility for all road users. How the public thinks about the problem of traffic injury and fatalities and what can be done about it is significantly influenced by how the media reports on it. Visit the Role of Media and Road Safety webpage for more resources, strategies, publications, and safety campaign information on this important topic!