Using Education
Education has long been a staple of many road
safety initiatives, and there’s a real logic to the idea
of telling people about the consequences of their
actions so that they can change their attitudes and
(crucially) their behaviours. If we can encourage
people to make safe choices, we can protect them
at all times, and not just when there’s a chance of
getting caught.
But there are lots of different forms of education,
methods of delivery, and ideas that lie behind it - and
some may be better suited to your particular problem
than others. It’s crucial to think of who we are trying
to educate, as research suggests that some groups
respond differently to the same kind of education,
for example males and females, young drivers and
experienced drivers¹. Sometimes the benefits of
education can take a long time to show themselves too,
which is something to bear in mind when it comes to
evaluation.
The purpose of the following section is to demonstrate
how education has previously been used in road
safety, including the general use of education as an
alternative to prosecution, and education through
campaigns. More focused case studies will then be
provided to show how such education may operate in
practice, and how the Mobile:Engaged research project
were involved with bringing the research knowledge
together with the practical experience of the people we
worked with.
We also need to think about different styles
of presentation. The same message can be
communicated in different ways, for example through
the generation of fear, appeals to emotion, and appeals
to rationality. In the next few pages, we’ll take you
through some of the advantages and disadvantages of
each.
Although we would like drivers to drive safely
because it is the right thing to do, we may also want
to educate our audiences about the chances of
detection and the consequences of being caught,
as some people will find this the most persuasive
argument in favour of behaviour change. These
‘rational’ approaches are explained on p70.
In our context there are two main ways that we
might want to use education -
- as a specific intervention to discourage a
particular individual (for example an alternative
to prosecution for a specific
offence such as a Speed Awareness Course, or
by a police officer at the roadside)
- as a general intervention to educate a group
or population (such as a school programme or
awareness campaign).
¹ 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), p.203.
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