The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Executive Summary

Aims

The objectives of this project were:

• to study variations in attitudes to risk taking and understanding of risks across different social and demographic groupings of motorcyclists,
• study the extent to which attitudes influence behaviour,
• investigate variations between statistical risk assessments and motorcyclists' assessment of risk,
• identify those motorcyclists whose attitudes towards risk place them at risk and
• to provide recommendations on how future road safety campaigns could be better targeted towards high risk groups

Background

Road safety targets for the period to 2010 together with a strategy for achieving them were published jointly by the Scottish Executive, the UK Government and the National Assembly for Wales in March 2000 ('Tomorrow's Roads - Safer for Everyone'). The targets are to achieve a 40% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured; a 50% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured and a 10% reduction in the slight casualty rate on the 1994-1998 baseline average ( DETR, 2000).

In general, progress towards these targets in Scotland has been excellent; however, motorcyclists are one group of road users where casualties have increased over the 1994-1998 average. In 2004, there were 986 motorcyclist casualties on Scottish roads of which 389 were either killed or seriously injured (Scottish Executive, 2006).

Increasing numbers of people are using motorcycles for travel and recreation. Per mile travelled, motorcyclists are 25 times more at risk of being killed in a road traffic accident than car users and 5 times more likely to be killed than cyclists (DfT, 2005, p27).

The risk of a motorcyclist being involved in an accident depends on factors such as the rider's age, sex, experience, type of road, characteristics of the motorcycle and exposure. The assessment of risk is complicated by interactions between these and other factors (Sexton et al, 2004).

Recent research into motorcycle accidents in Scotland confirmed that the number of motorcycle accidents in Scotland has increased in recent years (Sexton et al, 2004a). The average rate of increase in motorcycle casualties from 1996 to 2002 approached 9% per year for killed and serious casualties ( KSI) and just over 6% per year for all casualties. However there has been a drop in Scottish motorcycle KSI casualties from 2002 to 2003, and a further drop in 2004 reducing the percentage change over the 1994 to 1998 baseline for KSI to 9%. (The figures for built-up and non built-up roads are respectively 2% below and 18% above the 1994-1998 baseline) ( SE, 2006).

Method

This study has:

(a) Obtained a sample of 124 in-depth and partially structured interviews with motorcyclists covering a range of risk propensity with the aim of obtaining measures of risk acceptance and attitudes to risk.

(b) Conducted a self-completion questionnaire survey of motorcyclists (returned sample of 364 from 2,000 questionnaires distributed) from a range of backgrounds and likely risk taking. Through the questionnaire, we have obtained measures of behaviour, attitudes and self-reported rider style together with demographic information.

(c) Analysed the data from the in-depth interviews and the self-completion questionnaires in order to investigate the levels of risk accepted by motorcyclists, their attitudes to risk and their perceptions of personal risk.

(d) Considered the findings and made recommendations in relation to Road Safety Scotland activity on potential remedial measures directed at high risk riders.

Key findings and Recommendations

Most riders in this study said they were aware of, or willing to believe, objective estimates of motorcycling risk. Furthermore, they were willing to accept these levels of risk and few would consider giving up motorcycling because of them. It does not appear that, as a group, motorcyclists base their behaviour on grossly under-estimating the risks of motorcycling as an activity.

• Three rider groups, identified on the basis of responses to a series of questions about the relative risk of motorcycling and car driving, give some insight into patterns of perception, and possible remedial actions:
• "Risk Deniers" might be susceptible to improved information on the real risks of motorcycling provided it is presented in a convincing way - though educational measures designed to show that they themselves are not immune from this risk would also be needed.
• "Optimistic Accepters" might be influenced by educational campaigns designed to bring home to them the true impact of motorcycle accidents on victims and their families. Measures designed to improve awareness of personal limitations and to reduce the belief that skill provides immunity from risk should also be useful. However, this group has a pattern of riding motives that also needs to be considered. One way to do this is by emphasising the link between such motives/goals and safety so that riders are more able to take these into account. Another might be to find ways of promoting other riding goals that would reduce risk (see Sexton et al (2004b)). It may also be the case that, for some riders at least, it is unrealistic to expect educational and training measures to be very effective in reducing risk; and that if the government wishes to reduce their risk substantially, attention will also need to be given to engineering and enforcement-based measures.
• "Realistic Accepters" may be the group most susceptible to educational and training interventions. Their self-assessment of their own risk is two-to-three times higher than the self-assessed risk of the other groups, they worry more about the risks than the other groups, and they are more aware that their own skills do not protect them from this risk.

It is probably not feasible or even desirable, to target each group with a different safety intervention. However, identifying the groups does give an indication of the types of content that need to be considered, and their potential effectiveness.

Suggestions for road safety campaigns

Following the above discussion, a campaign based on using 'risk' as the lever of influence would thus consider the following:

• Present convincing information on the objective risk of motorcycling, while recognising that many riders will not need convincing.
• Show that riders tend to be unrealistically optimistic about whether or not these risks apply to them personally, and about the extent to which their skills protect them from the risk.
• Demonstrate the true impact of motorcycle accidents on victims and their families.

However, the surveys demonstrated that riders in the survey samples did not in general seem to grossly under-estimate the risk of motorcycling. It was also apparent that most riders in the surveys were dedicated to riding and would not consider giving it up because of the risk. It must be recognised, therefore, that measures like the above, focussing on giving riders a better appreciation of the risks they run, may well not be very effective in reducing motorcycle accidents. Therefore a potential strategy should also consider the following:

• Promotion of 'safe' goals for motorcycling - for example, smoothness and safety rather than speed and 'progress'. In effect, this would recognise the importance of riding for pleasure as a goal, but seek to encourage people to obtain this pleasure from other facets of riding.
• Making available and promoting training and educational measures to improve riders' safe-riding skills but ensure that they also promote safe goals rather than unsafe ones, give attention to the influence of attitudes and goals on riding behaviour, and improve people's self evaluation skills and their awareness of risk-increasing factors.
• Encouraging being a smoother rider, a rider with good perception & planning skills
• Suggesting the goal of completing all rides with no 'surprises' and making the point that 'being a good rider is not enough' or, rather, redefining what is seen as a good rider.
• Creating an attitude that riding is a continuous learning process and improvement activity, from 'cradle to grave', thus encouraging the view that, by continuing to learn, riding will become better and more enjoyable.
• Developing an increased skill level without a corresponding increase in risk - possibly by using highly-respected expert riders to promote safe riding, so that riders aspire to ride as well as these experts, rather than trying to emulate 'racing riders' on the road
• Encouragement of more pre and post-test training, (a view which is endorsed by motorcycle training organisations). An equivalent of the Pass Plus scheme for bikers could be considered, as could an extended BikeSafe scheme, an NVQ qualification or training via IAM or RoSPA. In any training, attention needs to be given, as discussed above, to ensuring that safe, rather than unsafe, goals are promoted, and that attention is given to the influence of attitudes and goals on riding behaviour, and to improving people's self evaluation skills and their awareness of risk-increasing factors.

« Previous | Contents | Next »