Do comparative judgements affect the perceived relevance of mobile phone road safety campaigns?

OBJECTIVE: Given the prevalence of illegal mobile phone use while driving and reliance upon messaging campaigns in deterring the behavior, there is a need to explore to what extent comparative judgements may influence desired outcomes of such campaigns. This exploratory study investigated (a) the perceived relevance and influence of different mobile phone road safety campaigns within a sample of Queensland motorists who reported using their mobile phone while driving and (b) if these varied depending on whether participants believed that their crash risk whilst using a phone was higher (comparative pessimism), lower (comparative optimism) or similar to the same-age and sex driver. METHODS: A total of 350 licensed drivers residing within Queensland (Australia) were included in this study, of which 200 reported using their hand-held phone on some occasion. Participation involved completing a 20-25 min online anonymous survey, which included viewing three mobile phone road safety campaigns (injury-based, sanction-based and humor) and responding to questions about the perceived relevance and impact of each campaign. RESULTS: A total of 64 (32%) participants displayed comparative optimism, 50 displayed similar judgements (25%) and 86 (43%) exhibited comparative pessimism. First, it was found that the injury-based campaign was perceived to be significantly more relevant than the humor campaign. Second, whilst the relevance of each campaign did not vary as a function of group membership, the campaigns were significantly less relevant to those displaying comparative optimism relative to those with similar judgements and comparative pessimism. Finally, the injury-based campaign was perceived to be significantly more influential than the other campaigns. However, overall, participants displaying comparative optimism believed that they would be less influenced by the campaigns compared to those with comparative pessimism. CONCLUSIONS: Although preliminary, these findings suggest that low perceptions of risk may dilute or extinguish the desired behavioral outcomes of mobile phone road safety campaigns. Nonetheless, experimental research is needed to examine these effects directly.

A longitudinal study of driving instructor guidance from an activity-oriented perspective.

The aim of this study was to provide a better understanding of the scaffolding activity of instructors during driving lessons in a French urban traffic context. It focuses on three common and risky tasks: turning right, turning left and overtaking. Data were based on fine-grained longitudinal analyses of the records of five driving lessons involving four student-instructor dyads. The instructor scaffolding activity was analyzed throughout training - an original approach in the sphere of driving. The results show that the instructors implemented the learning process using an integrative approach based on 'cutting' and 'decoupling' the driving task rather than the step-by-step method recommended in the curriculum. They transferred the responsibility of the driving components to the students in a similar order: 1) technical maneuvers, 2) situation identification and 3) goals focusing on other road-users. As expected, student autonomy and efficiency in driving increased as the training progressed. However, at the end of training, uncertainties remained with regard to the execution of basic sub-goals in complex situation; moreover, the instructors were still in charge of the navigational task. The results were discussed and suggestions were made to improve instructor training with a view to increasing their efficiency in teaching students.

What are the consequences of sharing a trainee's driving course between different trainers?

OBJECTIVES: In some driving schools in France, several trainers may successively train a single trainee. This situation can be described as a case of asynchronous collaboration. In this paper, we examine the consequences of this situation in two different studies: the first explores the trainers' activity while the second concerns the trainees. PARTICIPANTS: The participants in the first study were 6 trainers with different levels of experience, each working with 2 different trainees. Four of them met their trainees for the very first time. The second study included 150 trainees from 13 driving schools in Paris. METHODS: In the first study, the driving lessons were recorded and fully transcribed before a thematic analysis was conducted. In the second study, the trainees completed a questionnaire. We collected both socio-demographic and driver training data. RESULTS: In the first study, we observed that changing trainers during a trainee's driving course had an impact on the trainers' activity. We identified difficulties in establishing a diagnosis of the trainee's progress, and the organization of the driving lesson was altered. The second study highlighted the fact that changing trainers at the beginning of a course increased the duration of the training period. CONCLUSION: The impacts of changing trainers during a trainee's driving course are discussed with regard to both the trainers' scaffolding activity and the trainees' skill development.

Reducing air-pollution: a new argument for getting drivers to abide by the speed limit?

Speeding is one of the main factors of car crash-risk, but it also contributes to increasing air-pollution. In two studies we attempted to lead drivers to abide by speed limits using "reducing air-pollution" as a new argument. We presented prevention messages that highlighted the role of speeding in increasing "crash-risk", "air-pollution", or both (Studies 1 and 2). The messages were also positively or negatively framed (Study 2). Given that women are more concerned with environmental issues than are men, we expected the following hypotheses to be validated for women. The message with the "air-pollution" argument was expected to be evaluated more positively than the "crash-risk" message (H1). The "air-pollution" and "crash-risk and air-pollution" messages were expected to be more effective than the "crash-risk" message on the behavioral intention to observe speed limits (H2a) and on the perceived efficacy of speed-limit observance in reducing air-pollution (H2b; Studies 1 and 2). Furthermore, positive framing was expected to be more effective than negative framing (H3), and presenting a message to be more effective than presenting no message (H4; Study 2). Broadly, our results argue in favor of our hypotheses. However in Study 2, the effects of message framing did not allow us to conclude that negative or positive framing was superior. All in all, messages with the "air-pollution" argument were more effective at leading drivers to observe speed limits. Thus, environmental protection may be a fruitful route to explore for increasing road safety.

[When each person thinks he is less exposed to risks than others, but more receptive to health prevention messages]. / Quand chacun pense être moins exposé que les autres aux risques mais plus réceptif aux messages de prévention pour la santé.

Comparative optimism consists of projecting oneself into a situation that is advantageous in relation to others. This is observed in the estimation of future risks, as well as in the evaluation of prevention messages: people who consider themselves less exposed to risks but more receptive than others to prevention messages. Our experimental research, which included a sample of 523 people, examines the effect of prevention messages on comparative optimism regarding future risks such as automobile accidents, domestic accidents or infectious diseases. Three independent variables were tested: the framing of messages, the context of judgement, and the target of comparison. The framing of messages consisted of centering the arguments on losses resulting from the absence of prevention or on the benefits of prevention. The context allowed for the evaluation of the perception of risks with or without a prevention message or reading instructions. People should have indicated if they were more or less likely to be at risk compared to someone close to them (a friend) or to an abstract entity (someone of their generation). Our study shows that the preliminary attention to prevention messages diminishes comparative optimism relative to future risks when the target of comparison is abstract, and the instruction increases the personal implication; it increases the comparative optimism regarding future risks when the comparison is to someone familiar and the messages are framed negatively. The discussion relates to the applications of these results for the conception and evaluation of prevention messages.

Comparing one's driving with others': assessment of abilities and frequency of offences. Evidence for a superior conformity of self-bias?

Research into self-evaluation of driving abilities has shown that drivers in North America and Europe consider that their driving abilities to be superior to those of the average driver. This survey (N = 454), carried out using a questionnaire, has confirmed this phenomenon in France where about 60% of the subjects rated themselves superior to other drivers in general. If this result is interpreted as a bias towards superior conformity of self, the study appears to show a bias with regard to conformity to driving regulations (assessed in terms of the frequency of driving offences committed). This interpretation would thus confirm the hypothesis that all subjects, whether they consider themselves superior or not to other drivers in general, believe they commit fewer offences than other drivers in general. The consequences of such a bias for the effectiveness of road safety campaigns and for drivers' risk-taking are discussed.

[Complications of diverticular disease of the colon. Apropos of 247 cases]. / La maladie diverticulaire colique compliquée. A propos de 247 observations.

In the last five years, 7 teams, members of a surgical club of lower Normandy, have performed 1,136 colon procedures, including 247 for severe diverticular disease. The patients were grouped in two categories according to the severity of the complications presented: 159 sub-acute complications including 137 acute cases of sigmoiditis (diverticulitis, peri-colic micro abscesses, pseudo-tumoral forms) and 22 fistulae, 88 severe acute complications including 60 generalized peritonites, 12 huge abscesses, 9 occlusions and 7 hemorrhages. The total post-operative mortality is 6 p. cent. It is quite different in the surgery of sub-acute complications (0.6%) and the surgery of acute severe complications (16%). The total morbidity reaches 14.8 p. cent. Complications are more frequent and more severe in acute forms (18.5%) than in subacute forms (10.5%). At long term, 10.8 p. cent of the patients operated upon, kept a permanent colostomy (25 p. cent in acute forms vs 2.3 p. cent in subacute forms). 89.2 p. cent have a normal digestive tract following treatment (97.7 p. cent in subacute forms and 53 p. cent in acute forms).