| More than meets the eye . . . |
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Today, most automatic safety cameras for detecting speeding motorists are located at crash hot spots. The deployment criteria being followed by the more than 40 Safety Camera Partnerships across the UK require fixed-site cameras to be placed where there are elevated levels of recent, and speed-related, road traffic accidents (RTAs). The cameras are also highly visible, being painted yellow or, as up here in Scotland, with rather fetching yellow and red diagonal stripes. Their first use is thus to signal to the approaching driver “Look out! Take extra care!” This has proved to be a dangerous stretch of road.” They do not, however, provide any further site-specific hazard information (“What, exactly, should I be looking out for?”) beyond this general alerting function. Use 2: General deterrence Speed cameras slow down speeding drivers. In one of our studies of newly-installed speed cameras in built-up areas in Glasgow, baseline data showed 64% of passing motorists in excess of the speed limit. Installing speed camera housings reduced this to 37%. When the camera units went operational three months later, the figure reduced further to 23%. The number of speeders at the camera sites fell from two-thirds to one quarter in six months. Use 3: Specific deterrence Speeding tickets change the behaviour of some drivers. But not all. In another of our studies, among 500 car drivers surveyed two months after receiving a speeding ticket, we found a mixture of speedsensitive drivers (“I now pay more attention to my speed while driving”), camera-sensitive drivers (“I now keep more of a lookout for speed cameras”) and insensitive drivers, doing neither. Around half had become more sensitive to their speed and were driving more slowly, but one third reported only slowing down for speed cameras, and one sixth reported themselves unchanged – despite paying £60 and receiving three penalty points – and not slowing down at all. In our study, “The Speeding Driver”, 23% of male and 15% of female Scottish drivers had been flashed by a speed camera in the previous three years, but when asked “What happened the last time you were flashed by a speed camera?” four out of five of those replied: “Nothing” (typically because a smaller number of cameras are rotated among a larger number of housings, which still flash with no film inside). Detection without consequence is unlikely to be a powerful behaviour change agent. Use 4: Detecting drivers in urgent need of help We have long known that speed kills. The laws of physics dictate that the higher the speed at impact, the more energy must be rapidly absorbed by hard metal, soft flesh and brittle bone.
These people pose more risk to themselves and to other, usually more vulnerable, road users. They need help with adjusting their driving styles. And there is support among the motoring public for such an approach. Last year’s (2002) RAC Report on Motoring reported 57% of a large, nationwide sample of drivers agreeing with the statement that “All drivers should receive periodic refresher training”. Such driver refresher training could be duration-based (and be more frequent for young and old drivers) or incident-based. Drivers involved in RTAs need help. Drivers collecting speeding fines and penalty points need help. In many parts of the country, Driver Improvement Schemes are already available as an alternative disposal for driving without due care and attention. Safety Camera Partnerships should follow the excellent example set by the Lancashire Speed Awareness course, where drivers detected by local speed cameras pay for their own remediation – and pay around twice the fixed penalty fine – and turn during a days’ classroom and on-road instruction from disgruntlement to gratitude. Manufacturers of in-car speed trap detector devices mount websites with glowing reports from drivers who admit they have difficulty in keeping track of their speed and are prepared to spend £400 to get the help they need. For rather less outlay, the combination of classroom instruction (“Why to change”) and on-road guided practice (“How to change”) offers the possibility of undoing old habits and facilitating integrated, sustainable changes in driving style through getting up close and personal. Speed cameras spot crash magnets in need of change. KSA – addressing the knowledge, skills and attitudes of drivers –– offers a powerful route to changing KSI – reducing the numbers killed and seriously injured on our roads. Steve Stradling is Professor of Transport Psychology at Napier University’s Transport Research Institute where he conducts research on car dependence and crash magnets. His Home Page may be found at: www.tri.napier.ac.uk/sstradling.htm |
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