Road safety promoting public advertisements : do they change risky driving intentions?

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess whether public service announcements (PSAs) change risky driving intentions and what features of the message were related to lower risky driving intentions. 134 students of Vytautas Magnus university participated in the study (38 males and 96 females, average age is 21.19 (SD=1.25). The quasi-experimental design of one control and three experimental groups was used. Three different types of public video advertisements were delivered to experimental groups; the control group was not exposed to PSA. PSAs differed in emotional response (encouraging positive emotions, fear or empathy). After participants watched videos with one of the three PSAs, they were asked to complete risky driving intentions questionnaire. The study results revealed that PSAs tested in this investigation did not change risky driving intentions significantly. However, comparison of different message features revealed that message inducing empathy was more related to lower risky driving intentions than fear message. Females who have seen PSA which induces empathy expressed lower risk taking intentions compared with men of the same group. Also people who do not have driving license and saw road safety promoting advertisements express lower risky driving intentions than people who have driving license.