Controlling driving speeds is a central feature of Netherlands road safety policy. Various types of information campaigns can be used to enlarge the acceptance of speed reducing measures. The question is the extent to which various information types are effective in this. There is also the question of the extent to which the acceptance is increased or decreased by the process of social opinion forming. In this study, an experiment was carried out involving two important persuasive messages, i.e. knowledge increasing information and fear appeals, together with group discussions. There were also two speed reducing measures involved: the introduction of 60 km/h zones and the increased use of speed cameras. 81 experienced motorists were subdivided according to the following variables: having/not having received a knowledge increasing folder about 60 km/h zones, and having/not having seen a severe, fear inducing TV spot about the dangers of driving fast. Then the subjects were given a questionnaire about their knowledge of 60 km/h zones, their attitude towards 60 km/h zones and speed cameras, and their intentions to abide by the speed limit in such zones. After having completed the questionnaire, the subjects discussed in groups of 6-9 people the matters of road safety campaigns, 60 km/h zones, and speed cameras. After this, their attitudes towards 60 km/h zones and speed cameras were again measured to determine any changes in opinion. Two remarks can be made about the results of this study. The representativity seems limited: older motorists (average age was 50 years) with an above average education form a large part of the sample. The effects found are probably connected with the specific contents and design of the persuasive message types studied, i.e. the folder and the TV spot. It is not known if other campaign materials would have produced the same results. As expected, the folder about 60 km/h zones increased the knowledge of this measure. Although women found the folder more clear and convincing than men did, it appears that the folder only led men to think more positively about the measure. It had the opposite effect with women: those who had not seen the folder thought the 60 km/h zone measure to be more pleasant than those who had seen it. Having read the folder did not make any difference with the men as regards their intention to abide by the speed limit. With the women it, again, had the opposite effect, viz. a weaker intention to abide by the speed limit. A possible interpretation of these results is that the knowledge increasing information stimulated both men and women to think more critically about the 60 km/h zone measure, with as result that women became less positive than at first and men became less negative. It was assumed that after the group discussions, there would be less changing of attitudes towards the well known speed cameras measure than the new introduction of 60 km/h zones. The results pointed in this direction: changes of opinion about speed cameras were observed in less discussion groups than about 60 km/h zones. The change in opinion about the 60 km/h zones tended to be more in a negative than a positive direction. As has been determined in other studies, a process of public opinion forming can lead to initial opinions about a measure shifting in a negative direction; i.e. the reverse of the goal of campaigning. With regard to the influence of the fear inducing TV spot about the dangers of driving fast, we found that women impressed by it were more inclined to agree with severe measures against motorists, and to find the 60 km/h zones more pleasing. Among the men, the TV spot seems to have had an opposite effect. Men who had seen the TV spot, saw less danger in driving too fast on urban or rural roads, and also showed less preparedness to abide by the 60 km/h speed limit if they were in a hurry. It thus seems as if men consciously rebel against the "driving fast is dangerous" message and the "drive slower" advice in the TV spot. An interpretation of this result is that it incites more rejection and contrary attitudes, especially among men, because possibly more men than women recognize fast driving as being their own behaviour. It is a known fact that male motorists, on average, drive faster than women. Seeing the opposite effects of this study's explicitly fear inducing TV spot, there is much to be said for avoiding the use of this type of fear appeal, and to choose a positively toned way of informing. This is also the explicit choice of the new publicity policy of the Ministry of Transport for the period 2003- 2007.
Samenvatting