Empowering Young Drivers with Road Safety Education
Using ‘shock and tell’ tactics to teach teenagers about the risks associated with driving does little to improve safety and may actually make things worse.
Traditional attempts to use ‘threat’ and ‘fear’ appeals to young people to influence their behaviour when they start to drive can be counterproductive, particularly amongst young men.
Such approaches can prompt defensive or even hostile reactions. Members of a young audience are also more likely to experience optimism bias about their own capabilities and the scale of their risk exposure.
Rather than talk at pre-drivers about the risks they face a more interactive approach could be better, one where the facts about road safety are shared and young participants are encouraged to come to their own conclusions about what good driving behaviour looks like.
This is amongst the conclusions of a study by Dr Elizabeth Box, Research Director at the RAC Foundation.
In Empowering Young Drivers with Road Safety Education Dr Box argues that Road safety interventions should be based on research evidence and behavioural theory rather than intuition and personal knowledge.