The Road Safety Bill, currently in Parliament, aims to make legal provisions for the development of road safety education programmes for drivers convicted of traffic offences deemed to be serious, such as driving at high speeds, ignoring traffic signs and driving in a careless manner. In preparation for the legal possibility of such educational interventions, a research working group of four judgement and decision-making experts was convened to examine the literature on risky human behaviour, including driving, and to make recommendations on what format, structure and content is likely to have the biggest positive impact on road safety attitudes and behaviour in the specific group of convicted traffic offenders – for which legal provision is currently being made. The recommendations, listed below, have been derived from the available scientific evidence related to conceptual theories and empirical work in the judgement and decision-making field, combined with evidence on educational interventions from the wider psychological and educational literature. The overall conceptualisation of the course design is that of an intervention targeted, in the main, at experienced male drivers who are caught speeding at high levels, but its content is also appropriate for the much smaller subgroups of course attendees, such as those who have been apprehended for ignoring traffic signage or driving carelessly. Those who are convicted of driving at high speed are likely to believe that they are above average at driving and feel that they were driving within their capabilities when they offended. After examining the evidence, the working group recommend a classroom-based intervention (the ‘course’) with a specified modular structure, delivered by trained professionals over a number of (at least six) sessions lasting at least two hours each and requiring the offender to complete homework between the sessions. The format of delivery should, in the main, be a facilitated small group discussion into which input from each individual attendee should be ensured. Discussions should centre on vivid scenarios of driving situations that are likely to provoke speeding and other illegal driving behaviour in course attendees. Attendees should be required to prepare short presentations of the results of between-module homework on key issues and concepts. A real incentive to engage with the educational intervention should be included, and this should be based on the effort a course attendee demonstrates during the course. The recommendations of the working group are below. Full scientific justification for each recommendation is given in the main body of the report. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting