An Evaluation of Attitudinal Driving Workshops.

This paper reports on preliminary findings of an evaluation of the effectiveness of Attitudinal Driving Workshops in changing attendees’ driving attitudes. A survey was distributed at two workshops held at Redlands RSL club in the Wynnum Police District. Seventy-nine (60%) workshop attendees completed surveys. Telephone interviews were used to assess subsequent driving behaviour six weeks after workshop attendance. Results suggest that the workshops are reaching the target demographic of 16 to 25 year old drivers and more importantly producing attitude changes. The personal, emotional stories are more effective in persuading people to change their driving attitudes than the less personal informational messages presented at the workshops. However, participants also valued the practical strategies for safer driving, such as the discussions on perception times, and stopping and following distances, as these provided guidance to meaningful behavioural change. Regression modelling revealed that perceived message relevance was the most critical message characteristic predicting attitude change. A third-person effect was evident for the less personal messages. Although, participants interviewed six weeks post workshop indicated that the workshops had improved their attitudes and safety awareness when driving, this sample was insufficient in size to draw any firm conclusions about subsequent behaviour change.