'More Haste, Less Speed: changing behaviour for safety and sustainability' - 22nd PACTS Westminster Lecture

Description:

This event - hosted by the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety (PACTS) - will feature a lecture by Dr Jillian Anable of the University of Aberdeen who will speak on the safety and environmental impacts of traffic speed. The event is particularly topical as it falls during the Government's Consultation period on proposals to increase the Motorway speed limit to 80mph. The event will also feature a contribution from Louise Ellman MP, Chair of the Transport Select Committee.

Road safety campaigns are often cited as examples of good practice at changing behaviour by those trying to achieve sustainable travel. Seat belt and drink driving interventions are hailed as hard-hitting, holistic and embedded within a culture of education and training. These are all characteristics which are typically lacking from sustainable travel management. Yet, it is plausible that learning could usefully flow in the opposite direction i.e. that travel behaviour interventions offer important insights into the achievement of long-term shifts in attitudes, social norms and habits which can be applied to road safety.

This lecture explores the potential for this transfer of knowledge by drawing upon evidence from approaches such as smarter choices, social marketing and networking, nudge theory and segmentation which have all been applied successfully to alter travel behaviour. It will also be suggested that road safety cannot be achieved in isolation from other policy objectives, including environmental sustainability, and areas for closer alignment between these two policy agendas will be highlighted.