The transport contribution of rural women in Africa has received substantial attention (Howe and Barwell, 1987). An important finding of this body of research is that women and girls are used and use themselves as a means of transport. With this finding in mind, and as part of a larger project exploring the travel and transport situation of low-income urban women in Ghana, the social, economic and travel circumstances of head-load carriers or kayayoosl was identified as a research issue. Pilot research on the topic was undertaken in March/April 1993 and the full-scale research of women and girls as a form of urban human transport has now commenced.In Ghana, women are highly economically active, most particularly in the informal sector (Garlick, 1971; Ardayfio-Schandorf and Kwafo-Akoto, 1990). Petty trading is primarily the occupational province of women (Apt van Ham et al., 1992). The 'kaya business', commercial head-load carrying by girls and women, is to be understood within this frame. Head-load carrying is a petty form of trading; head-load carriers are self-employed, informal sector workers. On the evidence collected to date, girls and women frequently enter the 'kaya business' as a way of saving the necessary capital to invest in technology and equipment to enter other less arduous and more profitable occupations. Entering the kaya busi-

Road safety in low-income countries (LICs) remains a major concern. Given the expected increase in traffic exposure due to the relatively rapid motorisation of transport in LICs, it is imperative to better understand the underlying mechanisms of road safety. This in turn will allow for planning cost-effective road safety improvement programs in a timely manner. With the general aim of improving road safety in LICs, this paper discusses the state of knowledge and proposes a number of future research directions developed from literature reviews and expert elicitation. Our study takes a holistic approach based on the Safe Systems framework and the framework for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. We focused mostly on examining the problem from traffic engineering and safety policy standpoints, but also touched upon other sectors, including public health and social sciences. We identified ten focus areas relating to (i) under-reporting; (ii) global best practices; (iii) vulnerable groups; (iv) disabilities; (v) road crash costing; (vi) vehicle safety; (vii) proactive approaches; (viii) data challenges; (ix) social/behavioural aspects; and (x) capacity building. Based on our findings, future research ought to focus on improvement of data systems, understanding the impact of and addressing non-fatal injuries, improving estimates on the economic burden, implementation research to scale up programs and transfer learnings, as well as capacity development. Our recommendations, which relate to both empirical and methodological frontiers, would lead to noteworthy improvements in the way road safety data collection and research is conducted in the context of LICs.

No abstract

This paper discusses issues affecting the transport and mobility needs of people with disabilities in middle- and low-income countries and how disability intersects with a range of other factors to impact on transport needs, use and engagement. The paper is intended to stimulate discussion and identify areas for further research, and identifies a number of key issues that are salient to discussions around equitable and inclusive transport provision, including patterns of transport use, behaviour and experiences, solutions and policy directions, measuring access and inclusion, policies and intersectionality. The paper also identifies gaps in knowledge and provision, barriers to addressing these gaps, and some possible solutions to overcoming these barriers. These include shifting the focus from access to inclusion, reconceptualising how ‘special’ transport might be provided, and most importantly listening to the voices and experiences of adults and children with disabilities. Despite lack of transport often being cited as a reason for lack of inclusion of people with disabilities, there is surprisingly little evidence which either quantifies this or translates what this lack of access means to people with disabilities in their daily lives in low- and middle-income countries.

Women in the developed world have different transport and travel patterns from men. Women are often involved in poorly resourced, highly complex, multiple-purpose trips (trip chaining); men tend to make single-purpose trips at higher cost and using superior modes of transport. These differences in transport and travel patterns are generated out of differential access by gender to economic resources, social resources and time resources. Women are time poor as a consequence of the disproportionate level of household tasks they are required to perform within present social structures. This research note identifies gaps in current UK social policy development around getting single mothers from welfare into work. It suggests a range of information technology based solutions which could assist single mothers in accomplishing the complex coordinatory task set them by the new policies on lone parenthood which need to be accompanied by improvements in transport if the `welfare to work' policy is to be successful.