Behavioural Change Techniques used in road safety interventions for young people

Abstract Introduction Death and injury from road traffic is a public health problem worldwide and accordingly there is substantial interest and investment in developing interventions to change road user behaviour. Alongside this, there is growing awareness of the need to evaluate interventions and to identify the most effective mechanisms by which behaviour can be changed. Progress has been hindered due to lack of a common taxonomy with which to define specific techniques used in attempts to change behaviour. Objective Behavioural Change Techniques (BCTs) have been successfully deployed to change a range of different health behaviours. This paper defines a series of BCTs that can be applied in the road safety setting and asks which ones are found in road safety interventions for young road users? Method Abraham and Michie (2008) identified twenty-six techniques used in behavioural change interventions. These BCTs, plus one other adapted from forensic psychology, are classified into nine groupings. Six educational road safety interventions commonly used in the UK with pre-drivers and young, novice drivers are characterised in terms of the BCTs they employ. Results Only a small subset of BCTs are employed in most of the interventions. They concentrate primarily on increasing awareness of the risks associated with a particular behaviour, and the severity of the potential adverse consequences. Conclusion Recommendations are given for improving the effectiveness of road safety interventions for young people including young, novice drivers by increasing the range of BCTs deployed.