Understanding human behaviour
Addressing human behaviour for educational interventions in policy and design
Why do humans behave the way they do?
The road environment, vehicles, and road users all influence road safety. In traditional road safety theory, these are referred to as road, vehicle, and human factors. This description focuses on the latte: human factors.
It is crucial for road safety stakeholders to understand human factors, which are influenced by biological traits such as gender, age, life stage, and physical ability.
However, interpersonal features also impact human behaviour. Personal perceptions, beliefs, knowledge, education, emotions, fear, habits, experience, personality, desires, and societal stigmas all contribute to behaviour on the road. These interpersonal factors are affected by the biological traits mentioned earlier, as well as by relationships formed through culture, upbringing, social class, religion, peer pressure, and the rule of law. The latter depends on economic status, legal frameworks, personal opportunities, and access to information and technology.
In the road safety field, addressing human behaviour often requires educational interventions.
The Safe Systems Approach
Understanding human behaviour provides offers valuable insights into the factors driving negative road safety attitudes. Common interventions include education, awareness campaigns, and enforcement.
