Slow down! Get off that phone! The impact of a high school road safety education program in influencing whether a young person speaks up to a risky driver

Abstract

Risky driving behaviours such as mobile phone use and speeding remain common among young people, thereby contributing to their over-representation in road crashes. There is much evidence that similar-aged peer passengers can have a negative impact on a young driver’s behaviour; however, there is also research that supports the positive influence that peer passengers can have when they speak up about risky behaviours. Road safety education programs, such as the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland’s (RACQ) Docudrama program, aim to help young people understand the important role they play as peer passengers and, thus, the importance of being willing to speak up to a driver who may be engaging in risky behaviours. Extending on a previous evaluation of the RACQ Docudrama program, the current study uses an Extended Theory of Planned Behaviour framework to evaluate the program’s effectiveness in influencing peer passengers’ intentions and self-reported behaviour in speaking up against risky driving behaviours, including mobile phone use and speeding. A repeated-measures design compared participants’ responses over 3 time-points: Time 1 (one month before participating in the program), Time 2 (immediately after having participated in the program), and Time 3 (three months after program participation). The results indicate that levels of anticipated regret for having not spoken up were higher following participation in the program suggesting that it encouraged young people to consider how they would feel if something was to happen and they, as passengers, had not tried to prevent it by speaking up. Three months after participating in the program, the majority of participants reported that they were positively influenced by the program in terms of engaging in safer behaviours as passengers; although the significant effects regarding improvements were observed only immediately after participating in the program. The implications of such findings are discussed in terms of the need for some type of ‘booster’ post-program participation to capitalise on the positive immediate effects that the program evokes.