This study addressed the question whether subjective and objective information about road safety affects parents' feeling of risk, and consequently their decision on how to take their children to school. Twelve scenarios were developed, each describing a fictitious city in the Netherlands. In each scenario, objective and subjective information was provided. The objective information varied in three ways, road safety had either increased, decreased, or no information was provided on road safety. Subjective information varied in two ways: the situation was described as either safe, or risky. Finally, in the scenarios, extra road safety measures taken by the municipality were either mentioned, or not. Thus, the study consisted of a 3x2x2 between-subjects design. Feeling of risk was measured by an implicit association task, designed to assess participants' feelings of risk in an unobtrusive way. Also, respondents were asked to indicate their perceived chance of being involved in a road crash. Parents' home-school travel choices was the main dependent variable. A differentiation was made between those parents who preferred to accompany their children to school, and those who would let their children travel to school unaccompanied. Results of the study are discussed in terms of subjective safety, feeling of risk and travel mode choices. Implications are discussed in terms of adverse effects of subjective risk on freedom of mobility. (Author/publisher)
Abstract