“Paying attention to the road” when driving – sounds obvious doesn’t it? However research shows 69% of accidents on our roads are caused by human error. Simply not paying sufficient attention can cause accidents – and in serious cases change people’s lives forever in an instant.
However, the University of Warwick have developed an evidence based intervention to change people’s awareness of distracted driving. The goals are significant – along with other interventions the Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership will be using the University of Warwick tool, and hope to reduce the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on the roads by 50% by 2030. Other areas are introducing the tool as part of the work done with drivers who attend Speed Awareness courses after committing speed offences.
The tool works by showing participants two images, separated by a grey screen, and in the second image something will have changed such as removing an approaching vehicle or changing speed limit signs – the evidence shows that there was a positive effect on awareness of observational skills.
Philip Edwards, a road traffic accident claims specialist with Clarke Willmott said:-
“I am acutely aware that a moment’s inattention when driving can have the most profound impact – I represent clients who have sustained brain injuries, amputation of limbs and spinal cord injuries simply because of someone else’s lack of attention – the consequences are life changing.
This tool following the work done by the University of Warwick sounds simple – and yet the evidence is that it is effective – and I would encourage all police forces and road safety organisations to implement it. My clients invariably say to me that they hope what happened to them does not happen to anyone else – any change which makes it less likely that people will be seriously injured or killed on our roads is massively important”
“All road-users need attention – be they drivers or pedestrians. Our research has found that the Change Blindness intervention is a highly effective and easy to use way to demonstrate the importance of attention for safer road use.”