Engaging young people
One of the most important ways that we can engage younger drivers is to ensure that the information presented to them , in whatever form , is up-to-date , relevant and important ‘ here and now ’. Having designed a good quality intervention ( whether that be a play , a PowerPoint , a virtual reality film , a pledge or a social media approach ) don ’ t forget to think about how it is delivered . This can mean the choice of words , choice of images and the choice of person or people to deliver it .
Words used with and presented to this audience should be easily understood by them , without professional jargon . The legal position should be explained , but this should be combined with evidence about the risk of legal hands-free use . The increased consequences of being caught within two years of passing a driving test should also be explained .
We should also aim to encourage young drivers to believe that they are in good company when they are acting in safe and legal ways . This is when peer pressure can work in our favour , as we exploit the desire to fit in and be part of the ‘ in-group ’¹. Young drivers will often be told that they are over-represented in the statistics for death and serious injury , but are less likely to be told that most of their peers wear seatbelts , don ’ t drink and drive , and resist their phones when driving ². The theory behind this approach comes from both BCTs ( p22 ) and procedural justice ( p62-63 ) – just from slightly different starting points .
Another way to make the most of what we know about young people is to exploit their FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out . We know that young people are particularly likely to use their phones for social networking purposes – because they fear missing out on what their friends are doing ( wearing , eating , watching …)³. If social relationships are important , then they need to be preserved , by not putting friends in danger , losing their licence , or by crashing and Missing Out on a lot more than someone ’ s Instagram of their new eyebrows . Non-drivers can be encouraged not to call people when they are driving , or to offer to take calls for drivers . Peer pressure can be used , again , to encourage young people to ‘ boycott ’ unsafe drivers ( whether they be friends or family members ).
The Honest Truth approach ( p37 ) has some useful suggestions for strategies to promote to empower young people when they feel unsafe .
¹ Blader , S . TylerT . R . ( 2009 ), ‘ Testing and Expanding the Group Engagement Model ’, Journal of Applied Psychology , 94 : 445 – 64 . ² Deighton , C . and Luther , R ., ( 2007 ). Pre-driver education-a critical review of the literature on attitude change and development , good practice in pre-driver education and programme effectiveness . Road Safety Research Report . ³ Przybylski , A . K ., Murayama , K ., DeHaan , C . R . and Gladwell , V ., ( 2013 ). Motivational , emotional , and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out . Computers in
Human Behavior , 29 ( 4 ), pp . 1841-1848 .
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