Inside the mind of a young driver

What makes a young driver tick? What are the prevailing attitudes towards speed, crashes, injury and death among the 17-25 year age group? And how should the road safety profession set about reminding young people of the terrible potential consequences of driving too fast?

These questions, and many more, are answered in a fascinating piece of research conducted among young drivers in the east of England during 2001. We take a brief look at this study in this features.

Since 1994, a cluster of local authorities in eastern England have been working together to tackle the problem of excessive speed. The campaign that underpinned this initiative until this year is Make the Commitment (MTC) – a gentle proposition asking drivers to sign a written pledge to drive within the speed limit at all times. MTC was designed to appeal to ‘middle England’ – the soft underbelly of drivers who readily recognise their responsibilities and the perils of speed. The campaign has legs and in the eight years it has been running in excess of 150,000 motorists have made the pledge.

A change of focus
Early in 2001, the partnership changed its focus and resolved to try and tackle the much tougher ‘young driver’ audience – those falling in the age range 17 – 25 years. Recognising the size of the task it was about to undertake, the partnership agreed to begin by investing in a study into attitudes and behaviour within this group before attempting to devise a campaign. A sum of in the region of £20,000 was earmarked and the research was commissioned over the summer of 2001.

The research was conducted in three stages – initial focus groups to discuss the broad topic of cars, driving and speed, followed by a series of hall tests with larger numbers to confirm or disprove theories emerging from the initial focus groups. Then finally, more focus groups to look at advertising concepts and messages developed as a result of stages one and two.

Attitudes to driving
So what did the research throw up?

"During the hall tests, we asked respondents to classify themselves in terms of their driving behaviour and ability," explains David Frost, road safety team manager at Peterborough City Council, who headed up the project team. "It was interesting to note some distinct differences between male and female respondents. For example, 83 per cent of male respondents described themselves as ‘confident or very confident’ drivers, while only 43 per cent of females put themselves in this category.
"Similarly, 30 per cent of males described themselves as ‘quite fast’ drivers, but only seven percent of females put themselves in this category," he adds.

The importance of terminology with this age group was also highlighted. For example, when asked what was the most likely cause of a serious accident, lees than one per cent of the sample said ‘exceeding the speed limit’, while 25 per cent said ‘going too fast’. Further questions confirmed that ‘driving too fast’ is perceived to be much more dangerous than ‘exceeding the speed limit’ or even ‘speeding’. "Young drivers appear to see exceeding the speed limit or speeding as something we all do – a technicality and not particularly dangerous," says David Frost. "But they generally accept that ‘driving too fast’ is dangerous."

Outcomes
On the subject of outcomes of an accident, it will come as no great surprise to learn that young people find it almost impossible to imagine their own death as a result of a crash. They can just about imagine paralysis, and because of this perceive self-paralysis to be a much worse outcome than death. "The research shows that if you want to address the driver him or herself in a campaign with this age group, you should speak about self paralysis as the worst outcome, not death," Frost concludes.

But far, far worse for young drivers is the prospect of killing or maiming someone else. And, interestingly, the worst possible outcome is not knocking over a vulnerable child pedestrian – it is killing someone travelling in the car with the driver. "The research shows that this age group is brutally honest and prepared to say what it thinks," says David Frost. "Throughout the research, if they could find an excuse for a driver, they would. Killing a child pedestrian, though awful, may not be completely the fault of the driver. The child may well have played a significant part in the outcome. Okay, so the driver may have been speeding, but the child may have ran out in front of the car. Respondents saw that as partly the fault of the child and would often be prepared to exonerate the driver from part or all of the blame.

"Where they had no get-out, no room for manoeuvre, was with the prospect of killing or disabling a passenger in their car – their best mate, boyfriend or girlfriend or even brother or sister. They clearly saw their passengers as their responsibility and the worst possible outcome of a speed related crash was killing someone they know and are close to."

As a result of this finding, the partnership has developed a campaign called ‘For my girlfriend’, which faces young male drivers with the prospect of killing their girlfriend in an accident caused by them driving too fast. The campaign launched in February 2002.

Conclusions
While it has to be accepted that there are massive spans of opinion within this complex age group - caused by differences in maturity, socio-economic status and sex - there are some common themes that can be summarised as follows:-

1. Young people find it impossible to imagine their own death – ‘it will never happen to me’ was a common response

2. Young males perceive themselves to be more confident, quicker and more aggressive drivers than is the case with their female counterparts

3. Self-paralysis is considered more likely and more worrying than a driver’s own death

4. Far more imaginable – and thus more disturbing – is the prospect of causing the death or disablement of a friend or family member travelling in the car with the driver

5. Thus, advertising communications should concentrate on passengers in the car rather than unknown pedestrians who may have contributed to the outcome through their own behaviour

6. ‘Driving too fast’ is considered infinitely more dangerous than ‘breaking the speed limit’ or even ‘speeding’

7. Many young drivers consider themselves to be better drivers than those in other age groups – particularly the elderly – citing ‘quick reactions’ as the main reason for this.

For more information about this project please contact:

David Frost, MSc, MIRSO
Road Safety Team Manager
Environmental & Legal Services
Peterborough City Council
Bridge House
Town Bridge
PETERBOROUGH
PE1 1XG
tel 0173 345 3499
fax 0870 238 8026
email: david.frost@peterborough.gov.uk

For a copy of the executive summary of the study please contact Sally Bartrum on 01379 650112 or by email at sbartrum@stennik.com