| February
2007 |
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City, Healthy Streets Campaign Target Crashes Alderman: 'People Have No Concern For Pedestrians' Social Pressure is Key to Making Drivers Careful |
Social Pressure is Key to Making Drivers Careful Your breath becomes shallow, your palms sweat a little, and your
heart starts pounding like a jackhammer. You forgot to: finish reading
for book club, you forgot to thank your mother-in-law for cooking
dinner … or take your recycling to the curb. Social marketing is increasingly becoming vital to the success of issues that are struggling for awareness. It’s a method that will be applied to reduce crashes by 50 percent beginning this year on Chicago’s Northwest Side when the Healthy Streets Campaign joins with city council members, Chicago Police and city agencies to launch Northwest Drive With Care, an integrated approach to targeting unsafe driving. “Active community engagement is vital to the success of the campaign,” points out Drive With Care social marketing coordinator Ruby Des Jardins. “We will use techniques that have been proven to change behavior.” How does it work? One way, according to McKenzie-Mohr and Associates, a Canadian-based social marketing group, is by inciting the commitment of others. When you voluntarily join a book club, you commit to reading and intelligently discussing the book choice. The sweaty palms and racing heart are a result of failing to see that commitment through. This same idea can be applied to various causes, especially automobile and bicycle safety. One study found that ending a blood-drive phone call by saying, “We’ll count on seeing you then, OK?” increased the likelihood that a subject will attend the blood drive from 62 to 81 percent. If there is no meeting or event happening to ensure the success of your issue, get groups of people involved. People are more likely to follow through on a commitment if it can affect their image among others. For Northwest Drive With Care, community members are asked to sign a pledge, promising to use caution when driving and “to protect the lives of children in my community.” Drivers who accept the pledge then put stickers in their car proclaiming their commitment. Would you cut off a pedestrian in a crosswalk while sporting an “I Drive Safe” sticker? The shame game is not the only way to elicit healthy participation from your community. A study at Florida State University found that when signs reading “Recyclable Materials” and “No Paper Products” were placed above recycling and trash containers, the capture of fine paper increased by 54 percent. People know that recycling is good for the planet, but forget to
separate materials in the midst of their busy lives. Sometimes all
a person needs is a little reminder. This type of method, called
prompts, should be noticeable, self-explanatory, and in close proximity
to the targeted behavior. Prompts become more effective when paired with another social marketing strategy, the norm. One study in a male shower room of an athletic complex involved a sign suggesting that the reader should turn the water off while lathering their body. When the sign was found to have little effect on showering behavior, it was paired with one man purposefully turning the water off while another was about to shower. This monkey see/monkey do action raised the number of men who turned the water off to 49 percent. When two people were seen engaging in the same action, the number rose to 67 percent. Once you, your next-door neighbor, and your favorite gossip partner around the block have all signed the pledge and sport a sticker in your rear window (it’s removable—no marks, no excuses!) then every other driver in your community will feel like they are missing out on all the fun. Kaitlin Sullivan is communications intern at the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation Kaitlin Sullivan is communications intern for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation
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