Introduction There are three different approaches to improve road safety, the so called “three e’s”: engineering of roads and vehicles, enforcement and education. Traffic safety education and information measures try to influence human behaviour, which is a key factor to avoid accidents. Traffic safety education and information includes a wide range of different measures. They are established for different target groups (like school children, senior citizens) and can be divided into different types (training, seminars, campaigns). There is a controversial public discussion, whether traffic safety education measures are effective or not. Although some people believe that an effect is not provable at all, a lot of studies document such an effect. Research questions Therefore a Phd-thesis at the University of Wuppertal shows possibilities and limitations of measuring the effectiveness of road safety education. The dissertation answers the following research questions: ? What kind of method is suitable for which type of measure? ? Which criteria are relevant in respect of the suitable methodological procedures? ? What kind of procedures should be applied in each case? ? In which case is it not possible to measure effects? Methods To answer these questions and to give recommendations for the right methodological procedure, three main parts were conducted: 1. Road safety education measures were described and systematised. 2. A systematic review of 36 international studies (published 2000 and later) was carried out. It was looked at studies, in which the methodological elements were described quite deeply. 3. Theories of evaluation and effect-measuring were analysed, methodological steps were identified and adapted for road safety education. Results and conclusion Within the systematic review, it was analysed for each study (beside other aspects): ? Which collection instruments are used (Questionings, Observations, etc.) ? Which outcome-indicators are used (accidents, knowledge, attitudes, etc.) ? Which study design is used (if there is a control group or site and how many measures took place) ? Which statistical tools are used for data analysis (ANOVA, t-test, etc.) The systematic review of 36 studies shows, that the methods used differ a lot. In many cases methodological weaknesses can be identified. The different kinds of road safety education measures and the procedure of effect measuring in general are complex and spacious fields. Nevertheless, there are some systematic relationships, which could be detected and act as a guideline. Minimum standards could be defined, which should be considered for different cases. By doing this a better quality of the studies and a higher validity of the results can be achieved. Most important is to keep some minimum standards at each methodological step. (Author/publisher) This publication may be accessed by Internet users at: http://www.ictct.org/workshop.php?workshop_nr=25
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