An evaluation of the Safe Drive Stay Alive road safety presentation ...

515. Conclusions5.1 SDSA impactOverall the Safe Drive Stay Alive event was received well by the majority ofstudents. The format of the show was not something the attendees were expectingand this helped catch and hold their attention. Safe Drive Stay Alive used a differentapproach to that of other, more standardised, road safety talks and the studentsseemed to appreciate this.The raw emotion presented in the testimonies, combined with the realism and detailof the stories told, heightened levels of engagement amongst students. This wasparticularly the case for the speeches given by the Fire Officer and the bereavedparent (the former working particularly well on male student who were generally lesspositive than females when rating all other aspects of the day).Despite students‟ initial shock to the shows content, it was deemed as beingappropriate for the target audience and the local angle to communications helpedincreased the relevance of messages.A consistent theme that came across through the research was female studentsbeing more receptive to the event than their male counterparts.Students were more receptive to messages deriving from a situation where the causeand effect was explicit. This involved highlighting what the driver had been doingwrong, what consequences this had, and how that behaviour affected him and thosearound. Such a relevant (to the safe driving theme) and direct causal effect wasoften lacking in the testimonies, where some of the collisions were cause byextraneous factors that had little to do with the drivers‟ behaviour/ misbehaviour. Itmay be worthwhile considering including scenarios where a driver was directlyinvolved in causing a collision who can reflect on their actions and the long-termconsequences in future events.5.2 SDSA effectivenessThe overall effect of the SDSA presentation on students was minimal, with evidenceof only a small improvement in their intentions and perceived behavioural control