Gloucestershire’s Road Safety Partnership (RSP) is about to embark on a programme of awareness and behavioural change amongst young drivers (17-24) in the County. The programme is starting with a campaign in local newspapers, in partnership with the Gloucestershire Echo — the partnership also includes Gloucestershire College, based in Cheltenham. Part of the campaign will be the publication in the press of key findings from a survey amongst local young drivers — how do young people behave when in a car and why do they act as they do? Last year, almost a half of drivers killed in Gloucestershire were under the age of 24 and the vast majority of these (85%) were male. The reasons are thought to include driving at speed, driving under the influence of drink or drugs and driving whilst distracted — by mobile phones or other young people in the vehicle. The aim of the research is to quantify these (and other) behaviours and to explore why young people behave in the way that they do (be it peer-pressure, showing off, or the feeling of being invincible). The Research Box was commissioned to carry out this research. The findings are contained in this summary report. (Author/publisher)
Abstract