Be seen and not hurt

Research shows it may take a little more imagination to get us to change our behaviour - especially when it comes to road safety. The OU´s Tom Farrell takes a lesson in staying safe on the roads

Last week I took my teenage daughter on a driving lesson for the very first time. Apart from the stress of teaching anything to a family member, I was struck by how much we take traffic safety for granted and how different the driving experience was for both of us. It seems the longer you have been a driver, the less you are aware of actually driving. I drive mostly on autopilot, my mind and body just know what to do and get on with. My daughter on the other hand was driving with heightened awareness and a sensory overload:  oncoming traffic, how to work the pedals, when to change gear, all whilst putting up with my increasingly panicky and frank driving instructions. I suddenly realised just how dangerous driving actually is when you think about it.

These differences between my learned unawareness and her novice hyperawareness of driving, reminded me of a very interesting recent traffic safety advert. The advertising campaign was commissioned by Transport for London, set out to address the many deaths and injuries suffered by cyclists each year, simply because they weren’t seen by motorists.

Patronise

As marketer and researcher, I was interested in how the advertising agency tried to change motorist behaviour rather than simply tell drivers that ‘cyclists weren’t being seen and were being killed’. They brought the message home in a much more intriguing way, as you will see shortly.

Most advertisers would use a fear appeal, opting for some shocking images of a cyclist crashing through a car windscreen with lots of blood. However, such advertising tactics might stop people cycling altogether (no good for the planet either). Equally the advert did not patronise car drivers by blaming them for deaths and injuries and turning them off too.

To get the ‘cycling safety’ message across the creatives tried a novel approach using an “Awareness Test’ that enabled viewers to experience how easy it could be to ‘look, but not see’. The advert demonstrates the concept of ´change blindness´ - whereby only a tiny fraction of all the information going into the brain enters our consciousness. I won’t give away the punch line but take the test yourself. Look at the advert now using the following link and come back for more information below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

Blindness

The advertising concept is based on a research experiment at Harvard University where a passer-by asks for directions, as the respondent talks to the interviewer, two workmen walk between them carrying a door. In a flash the passer-by switches places with one of the workmen, and you are left giving directions to a different person. Over 50 per cent failed to spot the change. When we concentrate on something, we can become blind to other events that you would normally notice. This "inattention blindness" is possibly the reason why motorists collide with cyclists. They look but do not actually see them.

The award winning advert was very effective with over 13 million people viewing it on TV and online. It is credited with reducing cycling deaths in London by a third. This is an example how social marketing interventions can use research to affect life enhancing behaviours.

Thinking of life enhancing behaviours, I find that since the driving lesson with my daughter, I am more aware of my driving focus particularly at junctions. You need to look out for the invisible brown bears too. And more importantly if you are a cyclist never assume that a car driver can see you even when you are right in front of their eyes.

For more information  visit : http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/roadsandpublicspaces/7599.aspx

Tom Farrell is a research student in the Open University Business School.
 

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