Driving with excess speed is a serious social problem, as speeding is known to contribute causally to, or at least worsen the effects of, many road traffic accidents. Considerable efforts have been made in recent years to employ physical and/or technological means to slow drivers down. However, such measures are unlikely to result in permanent behaviour change while speeding is still regarded as acceptable behaviour by many drivers. One way to change these perceptions would be to develop publicity and road safety campaigns grounded in the theoretical principles of the psychology of attitude change. This chapter describes one attempt to use those principles. An extended version of Ajzen's (1985) Theory of Planned Behaviour was used in a study of the beliefs, values and attitudes that underpin the decision to speed in a 30 mph zone. Those beliefs were then targeted in a video-based attitude change intervention. The results show that theory-based interventions have the potential to bring about statistically significant attitude change, and so might profitably be used to guide the development of future road safety campaigns. (Author/publisher)
Abstract