The recent dramatic decline in road mortality in France: how drivers' attitudes towards road traffic safety changed between 2001 and 2004 in the GAZEL cohort.

A very significant decline in the number of road casualties has been observed recently in France, concomitantly with a dramatic increase in law enforcement. The aim of this study was (i) to assess changes in attitudes about road traffic accident (RTA) prevention initiatives in France from 2001 to 2004 and (ii) to identify factors associated with an increase in positive attitudes towards RTA prevention initiatives. In 2001 and 2004, 9216 participants reported their attitudes towards traffic safety using the same self-administered Driving Behaviour and Road Safety Questionnaire. Sociodemographic, psychological and behavioural data were also available. The mean change in scores analysis showed that support for relaxing existing regulations decreased significantly during this period, while support for heightened enforcement and stricter regulations showed some decrease but remained high overall, especially concerning blood alcohol content and speed controls. Multivariate analyses suggest that highly educated drivers changed their attitudes towards road safety regulations more than other categories. Our results suggest that increased traffic law enforcement measures led to increasing support for current restrictions. Even if support for additional traffic law enforcement began to wane slightly in 2004, a large part of our population remained in favour of strengthening law enforcement related to speeding and drunk driving.

[1]  H. Lindman.  Analysis of variance in complex experimental designs , 1974 .

[2]  S G Stradling,et al.  Determinants of intention to commit driving violations. , 1992, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[3]  Elisa R Braver,et al.  Race, Hispanic origin, and socioeconomic status in relation to motor vehicle occupant death rates and risk factors among adults. , 2003, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[4]  R A Marottoli,et al.  Confidence in, and self-rating of, driving ability among older drivers. , 1998, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[5]  Amitai Etzioni,et al.  Social Norms: Internalization, Persuasion, and History , 2000 .

[6]  D. Parker,et al.  Attitudinal predictors of interpersonally aggressive violations on the road , 1998 .

[7]  S Stradling,et al.  Behavioural characteristics and involvement in different types of traffic accident. , 1995, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[8]  D. Fergusson,et al.  Risky driving behaviour in young people: prevalence, personal characteristics and traffic accidents , 2003, Australian and New Zealand journal of public health.

[9]  Talib Rothengatter,et al.  Drivers' illusions -- no more risk , 2002 .

[10]  I Lewin,et al.  Driver training: a perceptual-motor skill approach. , 1982, Ergonomics.

[11]  David Trafimow,et al.  The Importance of Risk in Determining the Extent to Which Attitudes Affect Intentions to Wear Seat Belts , 1994 .

[12]  A J McLean,et al.  Self-regulation of driving and its relationship to driving ability among older adults. , 2006, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[13]  Charles D. Barrett.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[14]  L. Evans,et al.  The dominant role of driver behavior in traffic safety. , 1996, American journal of public health.

[15]  Robert West,et al.  The Role of Personality and Attitudes in Traffic Accident Risk , 1997 .

[16]  I. Rosenstock.  Historical Origins of the Health Belief Model , 1974 .

[17]  Torbjørn Rundmo,et al.  Attitudes towards traffic safety, driving behaviour and accident involvement among the Norwegian public , 2004, Ergonomics.

[18]  C Borrell,et al.  Education level inequalities and transportation injury mortality in the middle aged and elderly in European settings , 2005, Injury Prevention.

[19]  A. Manstead,et al.  Modifying beliefs and attitudes to exceeding the speed limit: An intervention study based on the theory of planned behavior , 1996 .

[20]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[21]  D. Altman,et al.  Analysing controlled trials with baseline and follow up measurements , 2001, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[22]  Margaret M. Peden,et al.  World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention , 2004 .

[23]  Emmanuel Lagarde,et al.  Attitudes associated with behavioral predictors of serious road traffic crashes: results from the GAZEL cohort , 2007, Injury Prevention.

[24]  R A Kronmal,et al.  The effects of measurement error in response variables and tests of association of explanatory variables in change models. , 1998, Statistics in medicine.

[25]  Icek Ajzen,et al.  Attitudes, personality, and behavior / Icek Ajzen , 1988 .

[26]  Mark A. Elliott,et al.  Exploring the beliefs underpinning drivers’ intentions to comply with speed limits , 2005 .

[27]  Patrick De Pelsmacker,et al.  The effect of norms, attitudes and habits on speeding behavior: scale development and model building and estimation. , 2007, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[28]  H-Y Berg,et al.  Reducing crashes and injuries among young drivers: what kind of prevention should we be focusing on? , 2006, Injury Prevention.

[29]  O. Ben-Ari,et al.  Motivational sources of driving and their associations with reckless driving cognitions and behavior , 2008 .

[30]  Heikki Summala,et al.  Cross-cultural differences in driving skills: a comparison of six countries. , 2006, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[31]  Dianne Parker,et al.  The social psychology of driver behaviour , 1996 .

[32]  Leonard Evans,et al.  A new traffic safety vision for the United States. , 2003, American journal of public health.

[33]  A. Manstead,et al.  Reconstructing the theory of planned behaviour , 1996 .