Behaviour Change Communication

Learning objectives

After completing this lesson learners should be able to:

• Explain what Behaviour Change Communication means in road safety
• Distinguish awareness from actual behaviour change
• Identify factors that influence road-user behaviour
• Define a specific target behaviour for a communication intervention
• Match communication approaches to different audiences
• Recognise why fear-based messaging is not always effective
• Understand the importance of testing road-safety messages
• Explain how behaviour-change interventions should be evaluated

Information does not automatically change behaviour

One of the most common assumptions in road safety is that if people know the rule, they will follow it. Reality is more complicated. A person may know that speeding is dangerous and still speed. A rider may know that helmets save lives and still ride without one. A driver may know that using a phone while driving is dangerous and still check a notification. Knowledge is important, but knowledge alone does not guarantee behaviour change. Behaviour is influenced by attitudes, habits, social norms, perceived risk, convenience, environment, peer influence, enforcement, personal experience and emotional factors. Effective communication needs to address the reasons behind behaviour, not simply provide information.

What is Behaviour Change Communication?

Behaviour Change Communication is the planned use of communication to influence behaviours that contribute to a desired outcome. In road safety the desired outcome may be consistent helmet use, seatbelt use, lower speeds, no drink driving, no mobile-phone use while driving, safe pedestrian behaviour, giving way to emergency vehicles or safe overtaking. The communication should have a clearly defined behavioural objective. Instead of saying “Road safety is important”, a stronger objective is “Increase the proportion of motorcycle riders who correctly fasten an approved helmet on every trip.” The second objective is specific and measurable.

Start with the behaviour

Before creating a campaign, define exactly what behaviour needs to change. Ask what people are currently doing, what they should do instead, who needs to change, where and when the behaviour occurs, and why the current behaviour continues. For example, the current behaviour may be a driver checking their mobile phone while stopped at a traffic signal, and the desired behaviour is keeping the phone away throughout the journey. The strategy should focus on that specific behaviour rather than discussing road safety generally.

Understand the audience

Different groups may respond to different messages. A campaign aimed at school children, college students, professional drivers, motorcyclists, parents, corporate employees or older road users should not necessarily use the same language or communication channel. Effective communication considers age, experience, motivation, risk perception, social environment, language, culture and media habits. A message that works for one audience may have little impact on another.

Knowledge, attitude and behaviour

Behaviour-change programmes need to distinguish three outcomes. Knowledge: does the person understand the safety information? Attitude: does the person believe the safer behaviour is important and relevant? Behaviour: does the person actually behave differently? A campaign can succeed at increasing knowledge without changing behaviour. After a helmet-awareness campaign, 90% of participants may know that helmets reduce injury risk — but if helmet use does not increase, the campaign has not achieved the desired behavioural outcome. The ultimate objective should therefore be behaviour, not simply awareness.

Social norms

People are influenced by what they believe others are doing. If a rider believes everyone they know rides without a helmet, that perception can reinforce unsafe behaviour. If the same rider sees that most people in their community wear a helmet correctly, the perceived social norm may support safer behaviour. Communication can therefore help establish positive norms — “Every ride. Every time. Wear your helmet.”, “Your friends expect you to arrive safely.”, “Safe driving is professional driving.” The message must be truthful: do not invent statistics or claim that a behaviour is common unless reliable evidence supports the claim.

Fear-based communication

Fear can attract attention. Images of serious crashes or emotional stories can create a strong reaction. But fear alone does not guarantee behaviour change, and excessive fear can cause avoidance, denial, emotional disengagement or fatalism. An effective message should combine awareness of the risk with a clear action the audience can take. For example, the risk is that a crash can cause permanent brain injury, and the action is to wear a correctly fitted helmet on every ride. The message connects the risk with an achievable protective behaviour.

Make the safe choice clear

A good road-safety message should answer the question “What should I do?” Avoid messages that create awareness but leave the audience without a practical action. Instead of “Speed kills”, a behavioural message could be “Slow down before you enter a school zone.” Instead of “Don’t use your phone while driving”, a clearer instruction is “Put your phone away before you start the vehicle.” The simpler the desired action, the easier it is for the audience to understand and adopt.

Choose the right channel

Communication channels should match the audience and behaviour. Possible channels include social media, schools, colleges, workplaces, radio, television, roadside messaging, community events, training programmes, public transport and digital platforms. A message aimed at young riders may require a different approach from a workplace campaign targeting professional drivers. The channel is not the strategy — the strategy starts with the behaviour and the audience.

Repetition and consistency

Behaviour change rarely happens because someone sees a message once. Repeated exposure can help reinforce awareness, recall, social norms and behavioural cues. Consistency also matters. If one campaign says “Always wear a helmet” while another message from the same organisation suggests helmets are only necessary on highways, the audience receives conflicting signals. Road-safety communication should be consistent and credible.

Test before you scale

A campaign should not be assumed to work simply because the message looks good. Before large-scale deployment, messages can be tested with representative members of the target audience. Testing can ask what they understood, what action they think the message asks them to take, how believable and relevant it feels, what emotions it created, whether it would influence their behaviour and whether anything was confusing. Testing can reveal problems before significant resources are invested.

Measure behaviour change

A successful campaign should be evaluated against its behavioural objective. Possible measures include helmet-use rates, seatbelt-use rates, observed mobile-phone use, vehicle speeds, drink-driving prevalence, pedestrian behaviour, knowledge and attitude surveys, self-reported behaviour and crash trends where appropriate. Social-media views and likes can indicate reach, but they do not automatically demonstrate behaviour change. A campaign with one million views may have little safety impact if the target behaviour remains unchanged.

Real-world scenarios