Behaviour

How did you influence your children to be safe road users? This research report by the British Department for Transport looks at how parents and other adults influence youth between birth and 16 years of age. While these adults see themselves as being responsible, the most common pedestrian tactic is to hold the child's hand.

'Tis the season of peace on earth and goodwill toward man, that is until you hit the highway. Here it seems to range anywhere from "I get mine first" to "Oh, I didn't realize that I could have done that to make it easier for someone else."

A significant part of highway safety program activities is devoted to behavioral countermeasures. These include the entire driver control system—from training and licensing to laws and enforcement and sometimes culminating in fines and sanctions. Given the enormous cost of crashes and the importance of driver behavior in highway loss reduction, it is important that behavioral countermeasures be implemented as effectively as possible.

This report presents the results of a research project funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The primary aim of the study was to increase the understanding of the relative risks associated with particular driving behaviors.

I'm sure that you have already determined that if I don't write this column based on reader requests, I write about something that I have seen happen around me in traffic. This column is no different, and it is about a behaviour that struck me when I was using the freeway in Vancouver recently.

"Ah, the Christmas driving spirit is manifesting itself everywhere. I was sitting in a mall parking lot waiting for my wife and whiling away the time by watching what was going on in the vehicles around me. It was not a happy time of year for the occupants of some of them!

I'm a bit surprised that I have never dealt with the subject of cell phone use while driving in this column. There has been ample opportunity, from observing drivers while I am at work, to reading reports about it from safety researchers, your suggestions, and even a comment from the judiciary about clamping down on drivers who use them when they drive.