Previous research in social psychology has brought about significant changes in attitudes and behaviour by merely asking respondents to imagine, orreflect, on a phenomenon and arrive at their own conclusions. To test thepotential of such interventions in the traffic safety area, an experimentcomprising 18-30yr old men with a drivers licence was conducted. Two experimental groups were induced to imagine a severe accident scenario and to visualize their feelings and the consequences on their future lives. A control group was interviewed about neutral issues. Attitudes towards risk-taking were measured post-intervention and at follow-up. The experimental groups showed more ideal attitudes than the control group post-intervention. At follow-up the attitudes of the experimental group remained unchanged, whereas the control group had changed towards more ideal attitudes. Self-reported risk-taking behaviour was measured pre-intervention and at follow-up. At follow-up all groups reported significantly lessrisk-taking behaviour than at pre-intervention. It is suggested that answering the questionnaires increased mental elaboration concerning risky driving, and it is concluded that interventions that unobtrusively make drivers reflect on their driving should be explored further as a means to promote traffic safety. (A) Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
Abstract