Aberrant driving behaviour is a major concern for road safety. Numerous studies have shown that behaviours such as speeding and drink driving are strongly associated with accident involvement (e.g. Finch, Kompfner, Lockwood and Maycock, 1994; Parker, Reason, Manstead and Stradling, 1995b; Parker, West, Manstead and Stradling, 1995c; Stradling, 2000; Taylor, Lynam and Baruya, 2000). A large volume of research has therefore been carried out into aberrant driving behaviours to provide a better understanding of why they are carried out and how they can be changed to improve safety. One approach to understanding driver behaviour is provided by social cognition models such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1985, 1988, 1991). According to such models, it should be possible to achieve changes in drivers’ behaviour by manipulating underlying psychological constructs – e.g. attitudes. However, this approach has seemingly had limited success. This paper, therefore, outlines a number of potentially important issues with respect to the question: ‘is there potential for influencing drivers’ behaviour by changing their attitudes?’. Three issues with respect to the TPB and the potential for influencing drivers’ behaviour are considered in this paper. These issues, among others, are actively being investigated in an empirical research programme being funded by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) in which the TPB is being used to investigate the attitude-behaviour relationship and the target behaviour of compliance with speed limits. The issues addressed in this paper are: (1) the causal ordering of the relationships within the TPB; (2) the prediction of objective versus subjective measures of behaviour; and (3) the role of habit. (Author/publisher) For the covering abstract see ITRD E116881.
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