Wellbeing and Personal Safety: Lessons from Population-Based Strategies to Reduce the Burden of Injury

Subjective wellbeing is affected by perceived personal safety, which is a consequence of various types of threats, their mitigation, and the way risk is portrayed. Using road transport injury in a civilian setting, the authors of this chapter show how injury prevention policies and organised systems of care improve health outcomes and quality of life in a community. The media plays crucial roles in the introduction of new laws and services and in shaping public perceptions. Valid instruments to measure community health and wellbeing are needed to guide the introduction of safety systems throughout the world.