There has been a long standing interest among various transport
safety organisations, researchers, other stakeholders and the
public concerning the relative safety of various transport modes.
Questions are often posed along the lines: on average, is travel in
a light aircraft safer than a typical journey in a private car? or
- what is the safety difference between motorcycle riding and
driving a car ? Consideration of relative transport safety risks
also has potentially important policy implications, particularly
where contingent resource allocation or risk management decisions
are involved. In an attempt to address the core substance of these
questions this Discussion Paper explores some of the main issues
associated with the development of comparative safety measures
across various transport modes and compares the results available
from Australian and other studies.