Components of an Effective Road Safety Campaign, Theories of Behaviour Change - Coursework Example

Running Head: BUYER BEHAVIOUR Buyer Behaviour Name Institution Date Table of Contents Summary 2 Road safety campaigns 3 Theories of behaviour change 4 Effective of road safety campaigns 5 Components of an effective road safety campaign 6 Use of Television in Road Safety Campaigns 9 Advantages of Television in Road Safety Campaigns 9 Example of Television Road Safety Campaign 11 ASIPHEPHE (Zulu for “Let us be Safe”) 11 Road safety campaigns in relation to buyer behaviour 13 Conclusion 14 References 15 Summary The paper looks at the importance of road safety campaigns which are mainly to increase public awareness on proper road use. However, for these campaigns to be effective, they must be enforced through various measures such as the police regulations. Theories of behaviour change should also be considered since the aim of an effective road safety campaign is to change the attitude and behaviour of the road users. Various factors such as the target audience, the campaign message, the means of campaigning and the campaign appeal should be considered for an effective road safety campaign. The means to be used in campaigning should also be properly decided upon. Television has been widely used in road safety campaigns and has proved to be effective. Example of this is shown in the Asiphephe programme in KwaZulu Natal Province in South Africa. Road users have been likened to buyers since their behaviours are influenced by similar aspects. Buyers are influenced to buy certain products by some aspects hidden in their personalities together with the situation in which they are. The habits of road users are also influenced by some aspects of their personality into some of their road use behaviours. Theories of behaviour change apply in a similar manner to both the buyers and the road users (OECD, 1994). Road safety campaigns Road safety campaign is an activity that is carried out to increase public awareness on the safe road use. The aim of carrying out road safety campaigns is to reduce the number of crashes and injuries that occur in the roads. The campaigns therefore aim to change the behaviour of people directly or by offering information that may enable them change their attitude towards road use. Research carried out on the roads in Europe and United States indicated that around ninety percent of road crashes occur due to failure of humans while using roads. The three main purposes of road campaigns are to inform people, to change their attitudes and to eventually change their behaviour. For example, informing the public about the number of people who die or get injured due to over speeding may make people change their attitude towards over speeding. However, law enforcement is also necessary for effective change of behaviour. This is because people may fear being penalised for poor road use that they may fear for being injured in case of road crash. Road safety campaigns may therefore help change people’s roads behaviours if done properly and combined with legitimate consequences. The campaigns are used to solve problems and end habits that cannot be dealt with by other means such as changing the environment or by use of police force (Elvik, Hoye, & Sorensen, 2009). To achieve effectiveness of road safety campaigns, it is also important to consider the components required. This includes the target audience, the message of the campaign, the mode of delivering the campaign, and the timing of the campaign. This ensures that the message is delivered appropriately and will have the necessary impact of the target audience. Theories of behaviour change According to Matthews, (2005) campaigns that are aiming to change attitude and behaviour should have theoretical basis to guide in designing them. One of the theories is the theory of reasoned action. This theory suggests that people’s intentions to adopt certain behaviour are based on strong beliefs about the consequences of the behaviour. Basically, the behaviour is highly affected by a person’s intentions. The theory of reasoned action assumes that people may make logic decisions, but the attitude and normative beliefs determines their intentions. The other theory is the Theory of Planned Behaviour. This adds on the theory of reasoned action by perceiving that behaviour control acts as the determinants of intentions. This explains a behaviour where in road safety, a person feels that he has little control of whether he is violating a certain law or not, for example in over speeding. However, if behaviour has to be changed, the intentions must be first changed which depends on behavioural, normative and control beliefs. The other is the theory of Interpersonal Behaviour. This is similar to the theory of planned behaviour but it differs in since it adds that habits are also predictors of behaviour. Habit describes a situation where behaviour may become habitual and not intentional. According to this theory, campaigns that are targeting drivers who have formed a habit of drunk driving might have little influence if they focus on the factors that influence their intentions. They should instead focus on options for the habit (Ajzen, 1995). Effective of road safety campaigns Road safety publicity campaigns usually have modest impact in changing the attitude and behaviours of the road users. To achieve proper effectiveness, the campaigns must be combined with other measures such as police enforcement of traffic laws or issuance of road safety services. Road safety campaigns are more challenging than the commercial campaigns since they persuade people to change a behaviour that they enjoy unlike the commercial campaigns that persuade people to buy a certain product. Individuals may therefore find it irrelevance to change behaviour where they have not personally experienced the consequences being told. For example a driver who always drive while drunk and has never been involved in an accident may not see the relevance of quiting the habit. This indicates why it is important to combine the campaigns with law enforcement. While designing the road safety campaigns, it is necessary to apply the social marketing principles in identifying the needs of the read users and to link them to safety. This is also important in proper planning of the safety campaign since it encourages the commitment of the road users. Where the campaign is not fully convincing, people may not see the relevance of changing their behaviour and attitude (Delhomme, 1999). Mass media has been identifies as the most effective means of campaigning for road safety. However, it must also be combined with government or community support for it to appear relevant. This has been evidenced in Europe and Australia where mass media campaigns on road safety were backed by law enforcement and this resulted in reduced cases of drunk driving. Components of an effective road safety campaign Moffitt, (1999) explains that to implement an effective road safety campaign, the following components have to be considered. i. Problem assessment: the road safety publicity campaigns should be designed based on proper understanding of the situations related to road accidents. The initiatives should also be based on available data. It is from this data that one can draw conclusion on some undesirable behaviour in the roads that needs to be targeted in the campaign. Data that can be useful includes accident data, which indicates the age group of road users, gender, and the group at most risk. Data can also be obtained through observation. This includes observing the road uses who mostly get involved in accidents. This may give the campaigner an insight of the behaviour to be targeted. Discussion with the police officers can also be a source of data for road safety campaigners. Police officers who attend to the accident scenes may have an idea of a certain behaviour pattern in occurrence of accidents that may be targeted in the campaigns. ii. Campaign design: after identification of the problem, the campaigner should identify the target behaviour and the target audience. This will enable him or he r to decide on what will be used to motivate the change of behaviour, the content of the message and what to use to make the advert more appealing. iii. Campaign message: the message in the campaign should state the behaviour changes that people should make. The message should be based on a behaviour change that that will be beneficial to the audience even if it is not directly related to road safety. The message should be clear, unambiguous and have a certain direction. The message should be concise and specifically mentioning the behaviour, for example, ‘do not drink and drive’. Techniques of market research can also be used to assess whether the message is being understood or to decide on the most eye catching design. A campaign that is aiming at changing the people’s attitude should be done as a series of campaigns for a sustained period. This should be focusing on the same theme for around two to five years. This should be done repeatedly, for example once or twice per year. It should not run for a period of more than one month since it may become diluted and it eventually loses the impact. It is important to pre-test the campaign message among the target audience for example by conducting interviews, using questionnaires and among the focus groups (Wilde, 2001). iv. Target audience selection: it is important for the campaigner to select a media that can influence the target group. All the aspects of the campaign should be designed such that they will influence the target audience. Media should be chosen depending on the audience, same as the content of the campaign message. Choosing the target audience should be guided by certain principles such as the group with the greatest needs. This should be identified following the crash data obtained. Other principles include those most ready for action, those within the easiest reach, and those that match best with the organization carrying out the campaign considering the expertise and the resources. v. Any other players: these are other sources that may be delivering the same information to the audience. Sometimes it is important to have similar information being delivered by several sources. For road safety campaign message, other players may include the police, doctors, health promoters and the private sector. Where there are many agencies interested in road safety campaigns, it is important to coordinate together to ensure that the campaign takes place effectively and that there is no fragmentation of the information. Others who wish to have a campaign agency to take up the initiative should have the various components of the campaign assessed by the campaign specialists to ensure that they are well prepared. vi. Carriers of the campaign message: the carriers of the message should be chosen depending on the cost, target audience, and how appropriate they are to the target population. The most appropriate carrier for a road safety campaign message is the television. It is important to consider how easily the message will reach the target audience. For example, a message that is targeting the teenagers cannot be advertised through the news papers since most of them do not read the newspaper. But road safety campaign can easily reach the vehicle owners if advertised through the television. The campaigned should therefore be designed in such a way that it will reach as many people in the target group as possible. vii. Appeal: the appeal in the campaign message should be based on fear, grief, horror or endorsement. Different appeals can be used depending on the audience. For example, the appeal that may be used where the target audience are pedestrians may be different from the one used for drivers. Threat appeals can be used in road safety campaigns to aggravate feelings of fear and anxiety in the target audience. To effectively instil fear through the campaign, the campaign should be developed in such a way that first it will attract the attention of the target audience, then generate fear and anxiety, then suggest a safe behaviour to adopt in order to deal with the threat, and lastly, it should be able to increase the confidence of the target in that they will succeed in taking up the safe behaviour (Tay, 2002). Use of Television in Road Safety Campaigns Television has been identified as the most effective means of campaigning on road safety. This is because it reaches a wider audience and for a short time that does not require long time attention. This is important because the audience can easily catch the message. A campaign through the television also reaches the audience when they are attentive. In most cases, people watch the television while they are relaxing and may therefore be able to pay attention. Involvement of visible signs, sounds and the motion involved in the advertisement through the television can have in impact in influencing the intentions of the audience (Trehan & Ranju, 2006). Advantages of Television in Road Safety Campaigns Television has got several advantages while it is being used in road safety campaigns. Considering the aspects of reach and selectiveness, televisions has got a very wide reach in almost all segments. To specific segments, television can also achieve selectiveness since it always under the control of the programme operators. After the target audience has been identified, the frequency of the campaign message can be increased to effectively pas the message. For example, most of the road users watch the television while they are resting. Resting is usually in the evening after people have left their work places. Television campaign can therefore be aired more frequently during the resting hours. Accessibility of information through the radio is easy. A large proportion of the population especially in the developed nations have access to television. Unlike the written media such as the newspaper that can be used by one person at a time, one television can be viewed by several people at the same time (Berkman, & Gilson, 1997). In terms of the capacity of the information, television can be able to pass even the complex messages. Some of the road safety campaigns message may be designed in a bit complex manner so that they persuade for change of intentions of the target audience. Television can capture the campaigner’s own words in conveying the campaign message. It also combines both the audio and visual messages, aspects that are important in indicating the seriousness of the matter. A combination of both audio and visual message is more effective in road safety campaigns because the road users can hear the message, and see pictures conveying the same message. The two are important in insisting the importance of the message. Pictures of road crashes and injured people as a result of poor road use can be shown and together with the message from the campaigner can work better. Campaign through the television can elicit emotions from the target audience. Television can also be used in eliciting the appeal, whether of threat or fear. Fear can be created through the manner in which the message is delivered and the pictures involved in the campaign. Television is also cost effective as a means of doing road safety campaign (Jagtman, 2004). Where the aim is to reach a large number of audiences, television can be cost effective in doing so. The level of exposure of the audience to the campaign advertisement is also important especially where the aim is to change the attitude. To elicit proper response from the target audience, there are a minimum number of times that the audience should be exposed to the advertisement. This is subject of the frequency of the campaign message. Television can achieve high level of exposure since its advertisements can keep being repeated for certain duration. However, too much exposure of the audience to the message can become monotonous and may eventually lose meaning. This may even wear out the fear or the emotions that the message might have elicited in the audience. Exposures can also be spaced over certain duration. For example, a two week’s exposure three times per year. This will keep reminding those audiences who have not yet responded to the message. It also gives such audiences time to practically experience what the message is conveying (Rowse & Fish, 2005). Example of Television Road Safety Campaign ASIPHEPHE (Zulu for “Let us be Safe”) This was a project in South Africa in the KwaZulu Natal Province that was aimed at tackling the issues of drunk driving and over speeding. The programme achieved publicity through dramatic television advertising and strong enforcement that was coupled with new technologies. The campaign was research based, and a read safety strategy that involved a lot of influential players such as the provincial law enforcement organizations. The Asiphephe programme appeals for a collective initiative in ensuring a safe culture in road use. South Africa is full of citizens who are desensitised to hostility and violence, which is also observed in road use. The director of the Asiphephe campaign programme stated that he believed such habits can be changed of all the stake holders get involved. According to him, this is could be achieved by increasing the consciousness of the driver to risks of over speeding and about other people’s lives. This could instil safe driving habits in him (OECD, 1995). In this case, the main goal of the campaign is to change the habits of poor road use. In efforts to reduce the poor road use habits, Asiphephe employed four main approaches. The first approach is enforcement. This was done heavily and visibly especially in the main road offences such as over speeding, drunk driving and wearing safety belts. Strict measures were also put in driver licensing by the police and the licensing bodies. After the enforcement measures were put in place, the other approach was education. This involved advertising in support of the enforcement measures with particular emphasis on the consequences of poor road habits. Education was also conducted among the children especially those belonging to the group at risk of road crashes. These are for example taxi drivers and pedestrians who are the target audience of the road safety campaigns. Project geared towards public awareness were also initiated to ensure that the agenda of road safety is for everyone. The other approach was to engineer programs that can reduce road crashes. These include traffic lights, building barriers and pavements for pedestrians, and speed tables for guiding driving speed. The design of vehicles was also improved and road worthiness. Control of heavy vehicles was also another engineering initiative. All the initiatives were then evaluated to ensure effectiveness of all the measures applied. The appeal that Asiphephe campaign used was to instil emotional feelings on the road users. The first initiative was to release the data on the number of deaths in the roads due to poor road use. This elicited an emotional feeling such that when the enforcement began, everyone was responsive to the initiative. This was due to the fear that was created after the release of the data. Together with the enforcement, road safety campaigns through the televisions were on. The campaigns were therefore to put pressure on the enforcement measures and to make people see the sense behind it. Education also led to further elaboration of the initiative. Education made the members of the community to understand the extent of death rates in South Africa, the trauma and the pain of the road crashes and the financial burden caused. The new technology that was used in enforcement also increased the eagerness of the This contributed to the effectiveness of the Asiphephe road safety campaign which by the second year of its campaign road fatalities in KwaZulu Province reduced by thirty five percent. Change of habits by road users resulted in a culture of safe road use (Myers, 2000). Road safety campaigns in relation to buyer behaviour Relating the above with buyer behaviour, the theories of behaviour change can also apply in buyer behaviour as well as in road safety campaigns. Insights into the minds of buyers can be highly influenced by common sense observation. For example, to influence buyers to buy a certain product, the seller must instil sense into the buyer on the importance of the product. Most of the purchases made by buyers are influenced by multitude emotional factors such as self esteem and image. The road safety campaigns should therefore be holistic. They should consider all aspects of human nature that might influence some of the undesirable road habits. While they are being addressed, the campaigner must consider other human aspects that may be hidden deep in their personalities that may have influence on the road habits. Buyer behaviour is also influenced by both simple and complex mental processes that marketers should research on to understand their desires. This is also similar to road users. Some of the road habits are due to some aspects in the personality of an individual. Buyer behaviour is also influenced by the situations that they are in. Some people buy things because they have money, others because they need that thing or how risky it is to purchase that thing according to their situation. Buyers mostly get involved if the purchase is of importance to them or they have previous experiences with the product. The same applies in road use. Road users observe road safety rules if for example they have enough time to drive at the speed required or if it will not cause them any inconveniences. They also tend to observe road safety rules die to the consequences of poor road use habits or where they have earlier experiences of the same (Plessis & Rousseau, 2003). Conclusion Road safety campaigns are very important in both developing and developed countries. However, to achieve proper road use, aspects of effective campaigning must be considered and put in practise. Enforcement by legal procedures is also very important for effective road campaigns. The campaign messages are properly passed through the television and then enforced by law to improve on their effectiveness. South Africa has shown an example of how enforcement can improve the effectiveness of a road safety campaign by the Asiphephe road safety campaign. Same as the buyer behaviour, road safety campaigns proper research on the aspects of human character that influences people’s behaviour and attitude towards road use. References Moffitt, M. (1999). Campaign strategies and message design: a practitioner's guide from start to finish. Michigan: University of Michigan press. Delhomme, P. (1999). Evaluation of Road Safety Media Campaigns. Boston: Willey. OECD. (1995). 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