Accessibility of EDI information in transportation

The accessibility of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) information in the transportation sector was highlighted at this year’s Strictly Highways conference.

Karla Shorrock, Data Administrator at the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) discussed the EDI project, which has been carried out in collaboration with Department for Transport (DfT) and InnovateUK.

The EDI project is a report that aims to assist in to closing the transport gap that some user groups may disproportionately feel, whilst also highlighting the wider benefits of EDI regulations both in society and organisations.

Through research of relevant EDI literature surrounding the topics in the Manual for Smart Street (MfSS), the project identified a lack of information regarding some topics and some user groups, while others were found in abundance.

Most importantly, the project addressed the topic of intersectionality. This describes the interconnectivity between categories which can largely be seen between the protected characteristics that disproportionately feel the transport gap, further decreasing their accessibility to certain amenities and service provisions. From this, the presentation described and explained how this exclusion can occur and provided examples and key statistics to support this.

Karla said: “It has been really interesting to see just how accessible EDI information is within the sector and our research has provided some interesting themes and statistics. I think a big topic that needs addressing more often is intersectionality. This topic was usually only briefly mentioned in the reports I analysed, and I feel should be focused on more to properly assess the impacts poor EDI regulations have on inclusion and accessibility. I am looking forward to working with DfT and InnovateUK to develop the EDI report which will help the sector to address the issues identified in the research.”