How do speeding driver offender courses change behaviour? Thursday 25th April Dr Fiona Fylan Leeds Metropolitan University / Brainbox Research
Does the speed awareness course achieve its objectives? How and why does it do so? 24.10.2013 2
27 BCTs Information Risks Consequences Others approval Teaching Instruction Demonstrating Feedback on performance Planning Forming specific intentions Setting goals Identifying barriers 24.10.2013 3
27 BCTs Agreeing A new way of living / driving Practising Signing a behavioural contract Supporting Observing others Social support Self-talk Implementing General encouragement Setting graded tasks Follow-up 24.10.2013 4
27 BCTs Monitoring Keeping a record Using cues Reviewing goals Managing Time management Stress management Self-motivation Feeling good Rewards Role model Relapse prevention 24.10.2013 5
Survey with 2070 clients 15 providers Six focus groups 28 participants 13 females, 15 males 4 providers, 2 course types 24.10.2013 6
Data collection and analysis Random selection of clients invited to participate in focus groups. They had attended a course 3-12 months previously. Focus groups lasted around 90 minutes. We took a critical realist approach and undertook an inductive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006) One researcher coded the data and a subset of the transcripts were analysed independently by a second researcher. All three researchers reviewed the themes. 24.10.2013 7
Challenging attitudes Giving insight Enabling application advantages of speeding own driving skills in identifying limits driving environment own pressures driving style need for speed limits limits of knowledge become an advocate
Challenging attitudes: advantages of speeding He [the tutor] said about if you drive, say if you re driving to work and you break the speed limit, that it was just a few minutes that you gained, it was so little. I think that as well, there was no point in speeding, just for a minute, what s the point? You know, so that stuck in my mind. [FG5] He just said If you drive within the limit you can forget about speed cameras, it doesn t matter, they re irrelevant, and that was the bit I picked up. So I try and drive within the speed limit and within the appropriate speed in the conditions, you know. [FG4]
But it s not all good news I think because we are not bad drivers we speed responsibly, in other words that you re still very aware of what you re doing: you re not on the phone or texting or with no seatbelt on or driving recklessly when there s parked cars, you re not doing 40 slaloming round. It s speeding responsibly which means you re doing slightly over the limit but you feel safe and confident and responsible still at that speed. I don t think any of us have been going so fast that we re not in control. [FG1]
Challenging attitudes: driving environment I think it was a lot of the statistics that they used and, you know, the mortality rates on roads that are round where we live that you would never have realised that it was that high, and it was like God! [FG6] I remember the sheets with pictures and you had to come up with all the different hazards and whatever else that were on there and it was good working together. [FG1]
Challenging attitudes: need for speed limits When I notice that I m going 35 or something in a 30 mile limit I just slow down whereas before I thought it doesn t matter, it s not that fast. [FG2] The thing that made a really big difference to my thinking was looking at the mortality rate at the speed you are travelling and how much it comes up between 30 and 40, I mean there is a really good reason why you should stick to 30, I mean most people there have been caught doing a little bit over 30, that was the case for me, there is a really good reason to stay below 30 because the mortality rate just shoots up exponentially between those two speeds and that really pound it home for me. [FG5]
Giving insight: own driving I must admit before I tended to drive a lot, unfortunately, under remote control, you just get into the car and you drive and you think nothing of it, in fact you re not even concentrating on what you re doing. That s the danger, you just become very overconfident in your abilities, so it has opened my yes. [FG4] It gives you the time to reflect, to have some time to reflect on things and discuss things in an adult way. [FG3] It does make you think Where else am I speeding? You know, it brings it home to you that you re obviously doing it without even realising that you re doing it. [FG5]
Giving insight: own pressures It s that mentality, isn t it: you ve got to be in front, got to be in front, got to be in front. I just sit back now. My drives to work are far more relaxed now than they ever used to be. I just watch people go by: just like You get on with it I m not getting to work stressed. [FG 1] Things happen when you have to speed, like when you re on the motorway and you re overtaking and they suddenly speed up, what do you do? There are certain types of situation where at one time it would be foot down. You know, I d race against the clock at one time, but now I don t. [FG2]
Giving insight: limit to knowledge It was quite shocking, how little you know, personally, how little of those road signs I was aware of, what they really meant. [FG3] I thought I knew everything but I didn t; I knew very little. [FG2]
Enabling application: skills in identifying limits He [the tutor] highlighted different speed limits and just like going down a country lane with no street lights I would have been looking for signs to say what the speed limit is if I hadn t noticed at the beginning it was a national speed limit but he told me that if there s not street lighting and no repeaters it s automatically a national speed limit. There was a lot of information that he gave me that I found very useful and it has made me a lot more aware of speeds and where the signs are to see what speeds you should be at. [FG5]
Enabling application: driving tips I think I drove so fast cos I m a bit bored, just want to get there quickly. Now I ve got something else to concentrate on while I am driving like reading the road ahead, thinking about the speed limit, thinking about what the dangers are. I m much more engaged with the activity and I am gong to do it better and I like to do things well, so that appealed to me. [FG3] I sort of drive down the road and I see things and it prompts back to perhaps something I ve remembered from the course, you know even sort of writing in the road and such. And you see other people making mistakes and you think You re doing that wrong. You sort of become very critical of other people. [FG6]
Enabling application: becoming an advocate I ve sat in a car with my partner many a time and said Do you know this? and he s like I feel like I ve been on the course. [FG6] I always find now that I stay a lot further away from cars, and even if I m sat in my girlfriend s car I m like What s the need for that? Get back! [FG4]
Conclusions We know that the ACPO NDORS Speed Awareness Course increases intentions to drive within the speed limit. This research has highlighted it works by challenging attitudes, giving insight, and enabling application. The balance in the course between information provision and activities to demonstrate personal relevance and application is very important. The course contains material to change the behaviour of speeding drivers are different types. There could be more content on identifying barriers and some on relapse prevention. An audit process would help intervention fidelity.
Dr Fiona Fylan Leeds Metropolitan University / Brainbox Research fiona@brainboxresearch.com