Reducing Rear-end Collisions on Queensland Roads

The psychological and financial costs associated with motor vehicle accidents are high and finding new and innovative ways to reduce them is a priority. One of those ways is through behavioural science.

Rear-end collisions, also known as nose-to-tail accidents, are a significant problem on Queensland’s roads. They typically occur in low speed zones (between 25-45miles/hour) and in dense traffic situations, such as peak hour.

In fact, they’re the most common accident type, accounting for approximately one third of all motor vehicle accidents. They’ve been estimated to cost taxpayers more than $1.7 Billion over a 10-year period. Rear-end collisions are also largely preventable.

Despite this, little has been done to reduce rear-end collision. Given the fairly low risk of serious damage posed by such collisions, traditional advertising and media campaigns relying on 'scare tactics' to shock people into changing their behaviours are ineffective and new approaches are needed.

In 2017 we were contacted by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC) - Queensland's regulatory authority responsible for managing the Third Party Motor Accident Insurance scheme. MAIC sought to leverage behavioural science insights to design a campaign aimed at reducing these low speed, dense traffic rear-end collisions throughout Queensland.

Evidn conducted an extensive analysis to identify the key modifiable behavioural, psychological and attitudinal factors of motorists which are predictive of rear-end collisions. Using these findings, and drawing on previous large-scale behaviour change projects, the Be A Mate campaign was born.

The campaign encompasses a suite of comprehensive evidence-based strategies to target the behaviours contributing most to rear end collisions. We found these to be:

Tailgating - following too closely to the car in front

Not Concentrating - being distracted and not focussing 100% on the road.

Not anticipating - failing to anticipate potential changes in road or traffic conditions ahead.

The campaign also has an overarching focus of encouraging voluntary prosocial road behaviours to improve the overall attitudes of drivers towards their fellow road users, particularly in the peak hour dense traffic conditions where frustrations can be high.