MOTIVATING DRIVERS TO CORRECTLY ADJUST HEAD RESTRAINTS - ASSESSING EFFECTIVENESS OF 3 DIFFERENT INTERVENTIONS

Three types of driver educational strategies were tested to determine the most effective approach for motivating drivers to adjust their hea d restraints to the correct vertical position: (1) a human interactive personal contact with a member of an ICBC-trained head restraint adju stment team, (2) a passive video presentation of the consequences of c orrect and incorrect head restraint adjustment, and (3) an interactive three-dimensional kinetic model showing the consequences of correct a nd incorrect head restraint adjustment. An experimental pretest-postte st control group design was used. A different educational treatment wa s used in each of three lanes of a vehicle emissions testing facility, with a fourth lane with no intervention serving as a control group. O bservational and self-reported data were obtained from a total of 1,97 4 vehicles entering and exiting the facility. The human intervention l ed to significantly more drivers actually adjusting their head restrai nts immediately after the intervention than the passive video or inter active kinetic model approaches, which were both no different from the control group. The human intervention was recommended as the most eff ective and was implemented successfully on a limited basis during 3 mo nths of 1995 and again during 3 months of 1996. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.