Modifying driver behaviour with passenger feedback

Abstract

Past educational measures that have attempted to improve driver behaviour have typically had limited effects. Based on the idea that particular types of driver error (as defined by Reason, 1990) result from contingency and conditioning traps (as defined by Fuller, 1991a), a feedback programme was employed to help drivers improve their safety behaviour. Two drivers and their single respective passengers served as subjects. The design employed was a within-subject multiple baseline across behaviours with replication. For each driver, observations were made of four unsafe driving behaviours, of which two were sequentially targetted in the behavioural intervention. Informational feedback was delivered orally to the two drivers by their passengers. Both drivers showed a marked improvement across the targetted behaviours only. This study demonstrated the applicability of behaviour analysis to the traffic domain and the efficacy of feedback as a behavioural tool for positive behaviour modification. Theoretical issues and improvements utilising feedback in driver behaviour research are discussed.