LOCAL – Evidence from our own work on education
in this area¹, as well as the insight from this project,
suggests that the use of local stories and locations
also helps to make the information seem useful and
relevant, and harder to dismiss. The use of local roads
in examples increases the likelihood that the audience
will have a personal connection to, or at least familiarity
with, the location, and will therefore be able to see
the relevance of the story to their own lives. This
encourages drivers to believe that ‘it could have been
me’ or even in the future that ‘it could be me’. If your
intervention is national, or may involve people who
could be from anywhere in the country, then make sure
the image is ‘local’ in the sense that it at least comes
from the UK – so avoid using images (like those above)
of left-hand drive cars, or vehicles in contexts that are
obviously international. It’s easy to ‘borrow’ imagery
and advertising from elsewhere, and tempting when
they feature appealing or clever messages, but make
sure that the laws they refer to are relevant ‘here’, and
that a shared Tweet from the US (for example) doesn’t
confuse the message you are trying to get across.
EVIDENCED - It is important that every strategy uses
approaches that are evidenced, and shown to work for
the target group. For example, for young people, fear
appeals are not the most successful approach when
used without a period of ‘fear relief’, but information-
and positive emotion-based inputs might work better.
As explained before, understanding the group that the
strategy is targeted at increases the likelihood that the
individuals you wish to interact with will engage with
your content in a positive way.
Evidence can also be used to challenge any
suggestions that your activities are not legitimate, or
not a priority. Statistics can be used creatively to give
impact (so long as they are not over-complicated), and
so long as they are recent and relevant to the point
you are making and the audience you are making it
to. Similarly, experts (such as Family Liaison Officers
or collision investigators, or members of the fire and
rescue service) can be useful for making a point
(bringing their own kinds of expertise with them) about
real not hypothetical events that have happened not
just once, but multiple times.
¹ Savigar, L (2018). Preventing mobile phone use while driving: appreciating the equivocal nature of identity, safety and legality in an uncertain world
(Unpublished doctoral thesis). Keele University, Staffordshire.
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