This article presents arguments to show that road safety training will never succeed in its objectives unless peoples' conception of responsibility is changed. In most situations people are motivated by an objective and try to achieve it as quickly, smoothly, pleasantly and cheaply as possible. For most road users, that objective is not to participate in traffic, but to achieve some other task, such as getting to work on time. The quality of their driving is secondary to that task. The road user is not even primarily concerned with his own safety, as he is usually unaware that he is likely to be in danger. Lastly, people do not comply strictly with road traffic law unless there is a policeman about. In order to educate people to behave otherwise, it is first necessary to get them to develop a genuine sense of responsibility for their actions. This cannot be achieved solely by informing people about how they should behave. One useful technique might be to use games or videos to enable people to assess what they would do in a given situation, or what their opinion of others would be if they acted in such a such a way, for example causing an accident by dangerous driving. Another method would be to enable the individual to acquire direct experience of, for example, the adverse effects of speeding, under controlled conditions. In driving schools, learner drivers should be made aware of the risk he is taking while driving and be made to feel responsible for it.
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