University of Sheffield

All Road Users2021

16 Dec

Written By Lynne Dickens

Promoting Intelligent Speed Assistance to reduce UK road traffic crashes

Amount awarded

£195,932

Completed

2024

Making roads safer for…

All road users

Project summary

Researchers have developed an evidence-based leaflet and animation to promote the use of Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) whilst driving, in a bid to reduce the number of speed-related collisions.

Using funding from The Road Safety Trust, researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and Greenwich have spent three years exploring effective ways to enhance the acceptability and use of ISA by drivers in the UK.

They created educational materials designed to strengthen underlying positive beliefs about the technology and to dispel misconceptions. An evaluation showed it has the potential to change intended behaviour, drivers were more likely to use ISA after seeing the leaflet and animation.

Download the leaflet →

The key recommendations of this study are for road safety practitioners to improve adherence to in-car safety technology using evaluated approaches and for policy-makers to consider making intervening ISA as widely available as possible in new vehicles, ideally through legislation.

Their findings demonstrate that this safety-enhancing improvement would be supported by drivers, provided there is an override option, as well as sufficient and reliable infrastructure to support ISA systems working effectively.

Drivers who took part in the study also emphasised the importance of persuasion and increased awareness of ISA as tools to help improve uptake and effective usage.

The researchers found that road safety educational campaigns would be well-placed to address this knowledge gap. They also note that such campaigns can encourage individuals proactively to choose to use ISA in the absence of legislation..

Download the final report →

Further funding has been provided to the project team to explore the feasibility of running an effectiveness trial in car showrooms, which would test whether the intervention has the potential to increase the use of ISA amongst motorists who have just purchased a vehicle.

All UK

Lynne Dickens

Spot On Creative is a Northants-based creative team who have the hard-earned skills, expertise and industry knowledge that only come from having worked for years in advertising. It’s all managed by Lynne Dickens who has over 20 years’ experience in marketing communications, and ten years in website design and build, and creative team project management.

Lynne is also a qualified art historian and has some expertise in curating fine art exhibitions and producing all of the catalogues, posters and supporting material to create a successful event.

All the guys in our team have worked for one-man bands, SMEs and large blue-chip multinationals in just about every sector, field and industry. We can come up with great ideas, superb design and copy, and exceptional photography for anything from websites to email campaigns, branding to brochures – and everything in between.

And the beauty of Spot On Creative is that we’re big in creativity, experience and knowledge, but small in overheads and invoices. So we’re a much more sensible and affordable option for you than a larger advertising agency or marketing company.