‘Use shock tactics’ to drive home message of UAE road safety

One Abu Dhabi resident is suggesting shock tactics, using billboards, might be effective in reducing incidents.

Adriana Holtslag with her daughter, Emma, 15. Mrs Holtslag, who has lived in Abu Dhabi since 2012, is proposing the use of “shock tactics” to improve road safety, which she says were very effective in Belgium, where she worked and lived for 18 years. Silvia Razgova / The NationalShow less

ABU DHABI // Adriana Holtslag is appalled by the reckless driving she sees all around her when she takes her children around town.

Cars weaving, speeding, scaring other drivers and flashing their lights, slow-moving cars hogging the middle and the left-hand lanes, tailgating, children hanging out of windows or sitting on their mother’s laps – all have become a too-common sight since the family moved to the capital in September 2012.

Mrs Holtslag, 55, who worked in Brussels, Belgium, for eight years, said the UAE should use shock tactics in road safety.

In Belgium, she said, huge roadside billboards showed graphic images of car accidents and asked motorists, “Do you think you’ll get home safely tonight?” and “Are you thinking of your family who want you home?”

“The signs just hit home because it felt that the message addressed you personally,” said Mrs Holtslag, a mother of two girls, aged 12 and 15. “It wasn’t just a general message asking people not to speed and not to drink and drive. It showed the possibility for all road users to be involved in an accident, either by one’s own negligence or due to others being drunk, sleepy, angry, distracted, or being busy on the phone.”

Threat appeal messages for road safety can be effective and garner attention in certain conditions and cultures, said Elena Altieri, communications officer at the World Health Organisation.

“They are more popular in certain cultures than others, and can be alternated with other types of messages,” she said.

Mrs Holtslag, a Mexican and Belgian citizen who has lived in the US, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg and The Netherlands, agreed and suggested authorities could also consider putting up a billboard showing children trying to cross the road with the message “Slow down, these could be your kids crossing the road”.

“The whole approach to how such a campaign would be set up requires a comparison of what other countries have done and a quantitative measure of the success they booked in their campaign,” she said.

Two decades ago, there was strong support for shock tactics to change UAE attitudes and driving behaviour, said Dino Kalivas, the International Road Federation chairman of driver education and training.

“However, recent studies have proven that in terms of improving road safety, there are negative consequences with people becoming immune to shock and terror,” he said.

Australia and New Zealand are two countries that have used threat and fear appeal messaging for many years in road safety.

These countries are now shifting towards more rational and realistic approaches to new situations and context, Ms Altieri said.

Road safety policy now supports public awareness campaigns focus on providing useful and “protective messages” such as leaving a safe following distance, reminding drivers and passengers to wear seat belts, and images of drivers urging them not to text or use their phones while driving, Mr Kalivas said.

“By using this approach we are educating road users to think about safety as a life skill,” he said.

“At all times we should ask ourselves ‘Is it safe?’ I think should be our goal for travelling safely on the road.”