Famous faces - Engaging young people by using famous faces or role models may be a useful technique ¹. Famous people may therefore be used to deliver road safety messages via social media or to develop films for other forms of public engagement . Of course , for this to be successful it is necessary to find a famous face that is important and relevant to the lives of young people now ( as well as one that hasn ’ t any road safety skeletons in their closet ).
Personal experience - Many approaches recruit people who have experience of the personal or legal consequences of phone use , including offenders , victim ’ s families , or those who have been involved in collisions . It is likely that this approach will contain an element of fear , and that has been found to be more effective for some groups than others . Young males in particular have been found to respond poorly to such fear-based information ². If you do decide to use these presenters , it is important that you offer a period of ‘ fear-relief ’ whereby individuals are able to recover from the emotional information presented ³, and provide avoidance strategies that explain what individuals can do to avoid experiencing those same consequences . See page 74 for more about this form of delivery .
Emergency services - Emergency service personnel are ‘ credible sources ’ and can be effective at conveying messages about severity , impact , but also frequency of consequences for the benefit of those who believe ‘ it won ’ t be me ’ or ‘ I ’ m a safe driver ’. Their personal experience may make them difficult to ignore but , as above , fear relief and avoidance strategies should be used alongside this sort of approach .
“ I reflected on our conversation with Mobile : Engaged around positive peer pressure and role models and managed to enlist the help of some Stoke City under-23 players to push out positive messages . This was really well received . Rather than the police saying “ don ’ t do this or you will be in trouble ” we had young people , who hold an elevated position amongst their peers , saying “ we don ’ t do this , you shouldn ’ t either ”
Sergeant , Central Motorway Police Group
¹ Seaton , H . ( 2018 ). How to make the generation that doesn ’ t care , care . Young Driver Focus Conference . RAC Club , London . 25.04.18 ² Lewis , I ., Watson , B ., Tay , R . and White , K . M ., ( 2007 ). The role of fear appeals in improving driver safety : A review of the effectiveness of fear-arousing ( threat ) appeals in road safety advertising . International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy , 3 ( 2 ), pp . 203-222 . ³ Rossiter , J . R . and Thornton , J ., ( 2004 ). Fear‐pattern analysis supports the fear‐drive model for anti-speeding road‐safety TV ads . Psychology & Marketing ,
21 ( 11 ), pp . 945-960 .
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