Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Primary Preventive Program "Clear Picture…!?" to Increase Traffic Safety

Abstract

The present study describes the development of the "Clear Picture...!? course program and examines its effectiveness. "Clear Picture...!?" is a one-day course on alcohol prevention aimed at Estonian adolescents aged 17 to 19 years and is carried out in educational institutions. A traffic psychologist together with the police and an accident victim facilitate the knowledge transfer, personal experience, reflection exercises and experience exchange of accidents caused by alcohol through three modules. In the empirical part of the present study, the results with a re-measurement group design (N = 109) examine whether participation in the course program results in a reduction of number of driving under alcohol influence cases, the number of violations in road traffic and the number of general non-traffic-related violations. The changes reflecting the results from the cases which have been registered in the police database are measured one year pre- and post-participation in the course. Whether an increased amount of alcohol consumption among adolescents is a risk factor for more violations within and outside road traffic was tested using AUDIT. With regard to all dependent variables (violations within and outside traffic) the course program shows reduction after one year from their participation in comparison to the year before the participation. There was no change in regard to the other variables. Significant interactions between participants and time of measurement on all dependent variables indicate a greater reduction in the registered cases of violations in participants. For students whose results indicated an increased daily consumption of alcohol, more legal violations were registered with the police in Estonia over the two-year observation period than with those with low alcohol consumption. Increased daily consumption of alcohol is therefore a risk indicator for violations within and outside road traffic. Due to the present study, a traffic risk assessment questionnaire "Clear Picture…!?" was developed, which enables to give immediate feedback to the participants about possible risks and dangers in traffic. It also enables to give directions and recommendations for future behaviour and how to avoid possible traffic risks. Also, AUDIT enables to give feedback to the participants about their possible alcohol problems and gives directions for future use. Relationship was found between problematic alcohol consumption and Traffic Law violations based on AUDIT. In terms of reducing the number of violations, the course program "Clear Picture...!? has a positive effect on AUDIT