Many companies are looking for ways to influence behaviour, including behaviour related to safety. Traffic expert Marleen Hovens has collected ways to influence behaviour in traffic through people’s subconscious. We have made a selection of lessons from traffic that can also be used in the business world.
The usual approach to improving road safety is through technical means. Extra traffic signs or a roundabout are put in place. The challenge, however, is to influence behaviour in such a way that people feel they are in control. Research from (neuro)psychology can help us do this.
Subconscious level
You can influence behaviour on a subconscious level. This can be done very subtly, for example by using benches, railings and cheerful colours, a motorist gets the feeling of driving through a neighbourhood with lots of children and the foot comes off the accelerator, as research shows.
If you vary the distance between the trees on a country road, the driver will become confused and will take their foot off the gas. Just before a shopping area, you can plant the trees more closely together. The driver will get the feeling that they are driving faster and will slow down.
One intervention is to send a child’s drawing with a fine. This action evokes in our subconscious associations with the negative consequences of speeding. You might hit a child. In Woudenberg in the Netherlands, a hopscotch court was drawn on the road, in Doorwerth children’s drawings were laid in the pavement.
Placing traffic signs often does not work. If a country road is wide and has smooth asphalt, drivers will associate the road with a road where you can drive 100 km/h. A sign that says ‘Maximum 80’ will not have the desired effect. It is better to make the road look different. Behavioural experts are convinced that drivers should be able to see or feel from the road how fast they are allowed to drive, making traffic signs superfluous. Another measure could be to communicate why a traffic rule applies, for example: ‘you are allowed to drive 80 km/h here because of health problems experienced by local residents’. That fosters understanding.
You can influence behaviour on a subconscious level. This can be done very subtly, for example by using benches, fences and cheerful colours to give drivers the feeling that they are driving through a child-friendly neighbourhood and take their foot off the accelerator.
Marleen Hovens, traffic expert
Rewards work better than punishments
Conditioning can also be applied in traffic, as the concept intends, by rewarding safe behaviour (positive reinforcement). For example, by placing a timer that indicates the time until the light turns green, or a smiley if the driver stays within the speed limit. Or a ticker with a ‘thank you on behalf of the local residents’ if you stop at a red light.
In Newcastle, posters with staring eyes and a warning were put up near a bicycle parking area. The number of bicycle thefts decreased by almost two thirds.
Keep it simple
If text messages are used, they should be simple, preferably a positive message or a short instruction. So it is better to use ‘Slippery! instead of “Adjust your speed due to slippery road surface”.
Finally, here is a fun idea
In Stockholm, all licence plates were tracked by a speed camera. All fines were put in a pot and raffled off among the people who had driven at the correct speed. The average speed on this stretch went down by 7 km/h.
Think about how you can apply these techniques in your company.
