A new research project has been launched to establish the best way to use pre-driver theatre and workshop education to enhance young and novice driver safety.
Jointly funded by Road Safety GB, the RAC Foundation, the National Fire Chiefs Council and Kent Fire and Rescue Service, the research is being conducted in response to interest from organisations involved in delivering this type of intervention, and the wider road safety community across the UK.
The aim of the study is to evaluate whether the content and format of theatre and workshop interventions can help pre-drivers develop effective strategies for coping with road related risk and have an impact on future collision involvement.
The project team will work with a number of local road safety partnerships and fire and rescue services, who are currently delivering the schemes, over a three and a half year period, concluding in February 2023.
The research will compare ‘testimonial based interventions’ against ‘research based alternatives’, to determine the most effective way to proceed going forward.
The study is expected to be delivered as a cluster randomised controlled trial, to ensure the highest level of evidence gathering in order to test the effects of the programmes delivered.
Road safety partnerships and fire and rescue services that sign up to the project will be randomly assigned a ‘condition to deliver’, which will be designed and evaluated by Elizabeth Box, head of research, RAC Foundation and a PhD research student from Cranfield University.
This is long overdue and very welcome. With so much noise around this subject it will be very helpful to obtain some definite evidence as to what works and more importantly, what doesn’t.
Iain Temperton, Norwich
+1
Very pleased to see this work taking place. Good luck to all involved.
Matt Staton, Cambridgeshire
+2