Making speeding socially unacceptable – measuring community attitudes

Making speeding socially unacceptable “ measuring community attitudes Michael Nieuwesteeg Transport Accident Commission For over twenty years the Transport Accident Commission has been attempting to shift the attitudes of road users in Victoria. The TAC’s efforts have contributed to a shift over that time in the community’s social norms in relation to drink driving behaviour. A major challenge for the TAC and its road safety partners is making speeding behaviour similarly socially unacceptable. In 2009 the TAC instituted a survey instrument that seeks to quantify and rank the levels of social acceptability and unacceptability of a range of driving and other general behaviours. Over coming years the survey instrument will track changes in the community’s attitudes and identify segments within the community who are most resistant to the TAC’s public messaging. The research findings suggest that while an overwhelming majority of Victorians consider driving with a BAC of 0.1% to be unacceptable, less than half consider that exceeding the speed limit by 10km/h is socially unacceptable. Around three-quarters of Victorians consider illegal driving behaviour to be unacceptable and behave accordingly. The remainder can be grouped into those who hold tolerant views towards illegal driving behaviours while personally exhibiting these behaviours, and those who consider the behaviours unacceptable yet still engage in them. The present report examines these and additional research findings from the first two annual waves of the survey.