Attitudinal driving workshops.

Mission: Engage the emotional conscience of the driving community to take personal responsibility in reducing road carnage and honour our commitment to the youth of Australia.
Objectives:
1. Contribute to a reduction in road trauma to the target audience.
2. Raise the profile of the relationship between driver attitude and road trauma within local communities.
3. Establish and foster community partnerships at a local level to address road trauma causes.
4. Support the expansion of Attitudinal Driving Workshops within Qld communities.
5. Contribute to a positive attitudinal change in the participants towards their
personal driving behaviour.Methods used Attitudinal Driving workshops are educationally focused with a view to promoting awareness amongst road users of the ease and extent to which road trauma can negatively affect lives. Delivery is by victims and practitioners who have been or are directly involved with road trauma. Central themes include ‘it’s your choice’ and ‘how road carnage affects me’. In addition the workshops aim to heighten driver awareness of vehicle dynamics in motion and deal with driver perceptions related to following, closing and braking distances.
Summary of results and data: The workshops are currently being reviewed and evaluated by the Qld Police Service Ethical Standards Command (Research and Evaluation Unit) that are examining issues including:
1. Take up of workshops in each area.
2. Partnerships developed.
3. Other agency involvement.
4. Reported change in driver behaviour.
5. Longevity of the effect of the workshops on participants.
6. Possible shelf life of the workshops in their current form.
7. ‘Fit’ with QPS corporate goals and strategic plan.
To date the workshops have expanded from the initial base at Maroochydore to include centres at Cleveland, Ipswich, Townsville and Logan. Collectively approximately 3300 participants have attended workshops with overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Statement of conclusions: The wider community has embraced the Workshops feeling there was a void in opportunities to expose their young people to learning about road trauma and its devastating consequences. 2008 Joint ACRS-Travelsafe National Conference – Non-Peer Reviewed Papers p.236 It has been a common theme of community feedback that such a program should begin in the early years of school and continue to the conclusion of year 12. Additionally overwhelming feedback has been received from participants and their families that attendance at an Attitudinal Driving Workshop should be mandatory prior to an application for a learner’s permit being made.