Famous faces - Engaging young people by using
famous faces or role models may be a useful
technique¹. 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 information². 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 presented³, and provide
avoidance strategies that explain what individuals can
do to avoid experiencing those same consequences.
See page 68 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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