Do Road Safety Communication Campaigns Work?

Abstract

Road safety communication campaigns are considered an efficient strategy for reaching a wide audience. They aim at reducing the number and severity of road crashes by influencing road user behavior. Despite the large number of campaigns that have been designed and implemented in recent years, few have been formally evaluated. This paper presents the evaluation design and the implementation of a national road safety communication campaign on the effects of fatigue on driving behavior. The campaign targeted primarily professional drivers and, secondarily, all other drivers The definition of the objectives of the campaign was addressed through the health belief model. Objectives included increasing awareness of the severity of driving while fatigued and of effective countermeasures. The measurement variables of the evaluation design, also addressed by the health belief model, were knowledge, behavioral beliefs, risk comprehension, behavioral intentions, past behavior, and self-reported behavior. The evaluation was based on a nonexperimental design. The use of control groups was not feasible, since the whole population was exposed to the campaign and data were collected by means of a face-to-face questionnaire survey conducted before, during, and after campaign implementation. Process and outcome evaluations were conducted to assess the impact of the campaign on driving behavior. Results indicated that the audience was reached at a mean rate of 13%, and the distribution of campaign leaflets was the most effective media channel (70%). In addition, a statistically significant increase in the proportion of respondents who were aware of the causes and effects of fatigue while driving was observed. Similar results were indicated in testing behavioral beliefs, risk comprehension, behavioral intentions, and past behavior. The main message of the campaign reached both the primary and the secondary target groups, and its success can be seen by the increase in the percentage of professional drivers and all other drivers who self-reported that they stop and rest for 15 min in the “during” and “after” phases, as compared with the “before” phase.

Continuing to drive while sleepy: The influence of sleepiness countermeasures, motivation for driving sleepy, and risk perception

“…Nonetheless, given the obtained results that two modifiable factors of risk perception and motivation were significantly associated with self-reports of continuing to drive while sleepy, it seems appropriate to target these two factors with behaviour change interventions. Previous research has demonstrated that motivation levels and risk perception can be successfully modified (Adamos et al, 2013 ;Burke et al, 2003;Rundmo and Iversen, 2004). The age mediation model from the current data could potentially be an important framework for behaviour change interventions.…”

Testing the Effectiveness of Objective and Subjective Predictors of Driving Behavior under Fatigue

“…In traffic psychology, the collection and elaboration of self-reported data is very popular (22)(23)(24) as it is a rather simpler, faster, and more economic approach compared with other data collection techniques such as on-site observations (25). However, it has also been acknowledged that self-reports may be susceptible to biases, owing, for instance, to the need of people to be ''socially desirable,'' and thus to tend to report in a way that makes them look good (26).…”

Attitude and behavior of medical and dental students towards driving in Punjab province of India

“…19 Communication campaigns have been designed are effective for improving the driving behiours. 20 Safety belt usage and do not drink and drive campaigns have been studied and a better result for seat belt usage was noticed as people were already convinced of not mixing driving and drinking. 20 Different questionnaires have been used to assess the driving behavior namely Manchester Driver Behavior Questionnaire, 13 7-item Driver Behavior Questionnaire and traffic accident involvement, 14 attitudinal questionnaire10 in different studies with advantages and disadvantages.…”