Do comparative judgements affect the perceived relevance of mobile phone road safety campaigns?

OBJECTIVE

Given the prevalence of illegal mobile phone use while driving and reliance upon messaging campaigns in deterring the behavior, there is a need to explore to what extent comparative judgements may influence desired outcomes of such campaigns. This exploratory study investigated (a) the perceived relevance and influence of different mobile phone road safety campaigns within a sample of Queensland motorists who reported using their mobile phone while driving and (b) if these varied depending on whether participants believed that their crash risk whilst using a phone was higher (comparative pessimism), lower (comparative optimism) or similar to the same-age and sex driver.

METHODS

A total of 350 licensed drivers residing within Queensland (Australia) were included in this study, of which 200 reported using their hand-held phone on some occasion. Participation involved completing a 20-25 min online anonymous survey, which included viewing three mobile phone road safety campaigns (injury-based, sanction-based and humor) and responding to questions about the perceived relevance and impact of each campaign.

RESULTS

A total of 64 (32%) participants displayed comparative optimism, 50 displayed similar judgements (25%) and 86 (43%) exhibited comparative pessimism. First, it was found that the injury-based campaign was perceived to be significantly more relevant than the humor campaign. Second, whilst the relevance of each campaign did not vary as a function of group membership, the campaigns were significantly less relevant to those displaying comparative optimism relative to those with similar judgements and comparative pessimism. Finally, the injury-based campaign was perceived to be significantly more influential than the other campaigns. However, overall, participants displaying comparative optimism believed that they would be less influenced by the campaigns compared to those with comparative pessimism.

CONCLUSIONS

Although preliminary, these findings suggest that low perceptions of risk may dilute or extinguish the desired behavioral outcomes of mobile phone road safety campaigns. Nonetheless, experimental research is needed to examine these effects directly.

A longitudinal study of driving instructor guidance from an activity-oriented perspective

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Reducing air-pollution: a new argument for getting drivers to abide by the speed limit?

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[When each person thinks he is less exposed to risks than others, but more receptive to health prevention messages]

Comparative optimism consists of projecting oneself into a situation that is advantageous in relation to others. This is observed in the estimation of future risks, as well as in the evaluation of prevention messages: people who consider themselves less exposed to risks but more receptive than others to prevention messages. Our experimental research, which included a sample of 523 people, examines the effect of prevention messages on comparative optimism regarding future risks such as automobile accidents, domestic accidents or infectious diseases. Three independent variables were tested: the framing of messages, the context of judgement, and the target of comparison. The framing of messages consisted of centering the arguments on losses resulting from the absence of prevention or on the benefits of prevention. The context allowed for the evaluation of the perception of risks with or without a prevention message or reading instructions. People should have indicated if they were more or less likely to be at risk compared to someone close to them (a friend) or to an abstract entity (someone of their generation). Our study shows that the preliminary attention to prevention messages diminishes comparative optimism relative to future risks when the target of comparison is abstract, and the instruction increases the personal implication; it increases the comparative optimism regarding future risks when the comparison is to someone familiar and the messages are framed negatively. The discussion relates to the applications of these results for the conception and evaluation of prevention messages.

[Complications of diverticular disease of the colon. Apropos of 247 cases]

In the last five years, 7 teams, members of a surgical club of lower Normandy, have performed 1,136 colon procedures, including 247 for severe diverticular disease. The patients were grouped in two categories according to the severity of the complications presented: 159 sub-acute complications including 137 acute cases of sigmoiditis (diverticulitis, peri-colic micro abscesses, pseudo-tumoral forms) and 22 fistulae, 88 severe acute complications including 60 generalized peritonites, 12 huge abscesses, 9 occlusions and 7 hemorrhages. The total post-operative mortality is 6 p. cent. It is quite different in the surgery of sub-acute complications (0.6%) and the surgery of acute severe complications (16%). The total morbidity reaches 14.8 p. cent. Complications are more frequent and more severe in acute forms (18.5%) than in subacute forms (10.5%). At long term, 10.8 p. cent of the patients operated upon, kept a permanent colostomy (25 p. cent in acute forms vs 2.3 p. cent in subacute forms). 89.2 p. cent have a normal digestive tract following treatment (97.7 p. cent in subacute forms and 53 p. cent in acute forms).