Case Study
Crash Course
Overview of the approach
Crash Course was an educational course offered in Staffordshire as an alternative to
prosecution for the offences of using a mobile phone while driving and failure to wear a seatbelt . It was also offered to 16-18 year old school and college students in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent , and to groups of employees throughout the UK in slightly different formats . Crash Course is not being used for any of these groups currently , although this may be reviewed in the future .
Crash Course was presented by those with personal experience of the issues being discussed , including a police officer , a representative of the fire and rescue service , a prison officer , a family liaison officer , and a road crash victim . It also contained multi-media clips including an offender currently in prison for causing death by dangerous driving while using his phone , as well as images of real crashes . The offence of using a mobile phone was discussed alongside other offences including failure to wear a seatbelt and speeding . Hands-free mobile phone use also featured .
The course relied to a significant extent on ‘ fear-based ’ inputs ( see p70 ), although a ‘ rational information ’ approach ( see p72 ) was also used for covering issues such as the law and statistics about mobile phone use . The audience was largely passive throughout ( discussion or group work was not a part of the provision ) and no follow-up work was conducted with participants .
Evaluation of Crash Course ¹ has shown it to be useful in producing attitudinal and ( self-reported ) behaviour change , and identified interesting findings about how the course changed attendees ’ views about roads policing . As with most courses of this type , it is a challenge to deal with the significant emotions that the content can generate , particularly when the audience is likely to be driving home as soon as the course ends .
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¹ Savigar , L . ( 2016 ). How can education be used to influence road safety attitudes and behaviours ? An exploration of Crash Course as a diversion from prosecution and as road safety training for employees : Report for the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire – December 2016 .