To achieve a significant, lasting and sought after behaviour change within any discipline is a frequently stated goal. Within road safety this is no different. As the government now looks forward to its next road safety strategy we must recognise that whilst the UK has made significant progress in improving safety on our roads, notably the historic achievement in Great Britain in 2007 of reducing road deaths to below 3000 for the first time there is still considerable work to be done. Much hard work has gone into achieving this reduction by engineers, road safety officers, police forces, MPs and campaigners amongst many. The targets outlined in ‘Tomorrow’s Roads - Safer for Everyone’ have been impressively surpassed. Yet the UK is falling behind its counterparts Sweden and the Netherlands in terms of its road casualty record. The question we must now ask is how to achieve further reductions? This report argues that a greater understanding both of the behavioural change process itself and the role that attitudes, particularly those of the ‘public’, play will be key in future efforts to reduce road casualties. Road safety has emerged as the public’s third most important transport issue for government to address, emphasising the apparent gravity that the UK population attaches to safer roads. Yet frequently a dichotomy exists between this expression of concern and its implementation in better road use behaviour in all categories; drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists. This presents a major challenge to road safety — how do we successfully influence individuals to take a desired action and what are the barriers we face? A better understanding of peoples’ values and attitudes and how they impact upon their intentions and actual behaviours will help to shape road safety policy accordingly. (Author/publisher)
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