Scare tactics fail to deter young drivers
Young drivers who are shown films demonstrating responsible behaviour are less likely to take risks than those subjected to scare tactics, according to a study.
Dr Yaniv Hanoch, associate professor of risk management at the University of Southampton, found that motorists who took part in the research responded better if shown “positive” driving messages.
More than a million people are killed in road accidents worldwide each year, with drivers below the age of 25 accounting for nearly half of road deaths. Dr Hanoch said: “Governments around the world have adopted a plethora of interventions aimed at encouraging safer driving, the majority of which use fear-based content, such as graphic depictions of sudden car crashes.
“We are all familiar with the UK Government’s Think campaign, especially at this time of year. However, previous research has suggested that such messages can be counter-productive, possibly because the emotive content can trigger defensive reactions and message rejection.”
For the research, carried out with the universities of Warwick and Antwerp, 146 young drivers under took tests to compare the difference in their attitudes to risky driving.
Half of the group viewed a six-minute video aimed at instilling fear through a crash caused by a reckless driver, distracted by his passengers.
The other half saw a video showing a positive scene with a careful driver asking the passengers not to distract him and successfully reaching their destination.
Each participant took a questionnaire to assess his or her attitude to risk taking on the road before and after the trial. At the end of the trial, they also took a second test, the Vienna Risk-Taking TestTraffic, in which they watched video clips of driving situations that require a driver reaction such as considering when it is safe to overtake in icy conditions.
The study also tested whether watching the videos in an immersive setting on a virtual reality (VR) headset made a difference to watching on a 2D TV screen.