Psychology 409a, November 6 , 2005

My Tenth Outline of Assigned Readings

By Julia Dailey

Tools for Change

 

Lonero, Lawerence et al.  1995. In Search of Safer Roads: What Works in Changing Road User Behaviour.  PDE Publications.  Ontario, Canada.  http://www.drivers.com/article/170

 

Instructions for this activity are found at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409a-g23-oral.htm

Instructor: Dr. Leon James

 

Concept One:  Legislation

            A.   The most basic mechanism used to influence driver behavior.

            B.  Includes, seatbelts, child restraints, motorcycle helmets, speed limits, and DWI legislation.

            C.  While some of this legislation has been effective some has actually been harmful which surprised me.

Concept Two:  Enforcement and Reinforcement

            A.  Enforcement discourages people from behaviors which will earn them a sanction, the threat of sanctioning makes most drivers comply.  Reinforcement is any incentive, rewards, or feedback that encourages desirable behaviors.

            B.  Enforcement would be ticketing a speeding driver, reinforcement would be giving a non-speeding driver a free coffee.

            C.  This article was somewhat depressing as they found that neither method of changing behavior is very effective.

Concept Three:  Education

            A.  The most traditional approach is to place information in front of a passive audience.

            B. There are many different approaches to driver education but the most popular is still to put people in a room tell them facts and then test them.  This has proven to be ineffective.

            C.  I think that targeting different groups, such as parents is a good idea because they have a huge impact on their children, and have the desire to help.

Class Links:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2005/dailey/home.htm

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/classhomeg23.htm

Related Links:

http://www.detnews.com/2005/commuting/0508/26/A01-294070.htm

http://www.walkinginfo.org/ee/enforcement.htm 

http://www.citizen.org/autosafety/driver_behav/primary_enf/index.cfm