Road safety education: What works?

Abstract

ObjectivesThe objectives of the paper are:•To present the main definitions and issues about road safety education (RSE) such as evaluation, historical evolutions and integration of RSE in Safe Systems Approaches.•To present examples of good practices in RSE. MethodSeminal papers, collaborative reports from traffic safety research institutes and books from experts have been used as materials. Very diverse fields of application are presented such as: the importance of emotional experience in interaction with traffic experiences; the efficiency of e-learning; the efficiency of simulators to improve hazard perception skills and calibration of one’s driving competencies; the efficiency of social norms marketing at changing behaviors by correcting normative misperceptions; the usefulness of parents-based interventions to improve parental supervision; and finally the importance of multi-components programs due to their synergies. ConclusionsScientific evidence collected in this paper shows that RSE may have some positive effects if good practices are adopted, if it is part of a lifelong learning process and if transmits not only knowledge but also “life-skills” (or psycho-social competences). Implicationsfor practice From each example, we will see the implications of the results for the implementation of RSE.