With the ascension of Philip Hammond to Transport Secretary, the new Coalition government declared their intention to end Labour's ‘war on the motorist’. Calling for the raising of the maximum motorway speed limit to 80mph, Hammond seems to prioritise the needs of motorists over other transport users (Wolmar, 2011). Every year more than 3 million cars are added to the European car fleet. Total road traffic kilometres travelled in urban areas are predicted to grow 40% by 2030 (European Commission, 2000). Our city streets witness growing tensions around road usage. Heaped flowers mark the fallen; road rage and transport modal interactions the battle. This chapter explores the paradigms that have emerged from participatory engagement with road space.

This chapter is informed by research I have conducted around road safety. Through engagement with communities and, in particular, young people living with high levels of child pedestrian injury on the streets in which they live, I have learned to reconceptualise my understanding of what is meant by road safety. My ideas evolved from several projects, including a European Union (EU)-funded project that explored the consequences of health inequality and exclusion, and the socially creative strategies that have developed to challenge these inequities in Europe. In this research, I highlight the growth in community engagement around attempts to establish car-free spaces and actions to support and develop healthier communities (Kimberlee et al, 2009); work exploring local governance and road safety (Lyons et al, 2008); the evaluation of the Department for Transport's Neighbourhood Road Safety Initiative; a community development project which promoted community engagement with road safety (Christie et al, 2010); and an inner city road safety project that engaged young people in highway design to address high levels of child pedestrian injury in local, ethnically diverse communities (Kimberlee, 2008). It particularly draws on a presentation I made to the Parliamentary Council on Transport Safety (PACTS) in London in the autumn of 2010. PACTS bought together engineers, community leaders, urban designers and road safety professionals to debate how to develop: Better, safer communities: the contribution from street design (PACTS, 2010). This chapter explicates my view that professionals have to respond to the changing participatory strategies evolving on our contested road spaces in cities if they wish to continue to address road safety and promote well-being.