Application of Behavior Change Theory to the Development

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BEHAVIOR CHANGE THEORY
enhance the contents of warning letters. Li (1980) recommended the inclusion of a
statement reinforcing the importance of personal responsibility, and also noted the need
to raise the consciousness of negligent drivers. Carpenter and Peck (1980) offered
choice in their probation by mail study. Ayers (1980) concurred with the need to
express empathy as a means to motivate the drivers to accept the message contained in
the warning letter. Kaestner et al. (1965) thought it was important to make an attempt
to strengthen the driver’s sense of self-efficacy. Epperson and Harano (1975)
recognized the necessity of providing information regarding the nature and risk of
unsafe driving behaviors. And, Campbell (1959) recommended the use of contingency
management.
Warning letters are not new; Michigan, for instance, has been issuing them since 1940
(Hayes, 1969). What has been missing is a theory or model of behavior change that
incorporates the observations of past traffic safety professionals with current
knowledge generated from studies conducted within the field of transformational
psychology.
The Transtheoretical Model of change (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1982, 1984) satisfies
these requirements and, in addition, provides results from a research agenda that has
steadfastly evaluated the effectiveness of the theory’s elements. Over the past halfcentury,
traffic safety researchers independently identified 11 of the 16 General, Early,
and Late Stage strategies as important components to be included in advisory letters.
These 16 TTM elements provided a standard basis for evaluating the quality of the
warning letters reviewed for this report.
The TTM is a theory of change that incorporates most of the recommendations that
traffic safety researchers have been recommending over a period of 50 years. While the
TTM was developed independent of the traffic safety field, it addresses issues that are
common to traffic safety. In addition, it has been used extensively and has been
successfully validated with recalcitrant populations to address problems once thought
to be immutable, such as alcohol and drug abuse.
The results of this literature review suggest that the Transtheoretical Model of behavior
change can be creatively used to guide the development of improved negligent operator
letter treatments that will be cost-effective, and that will improve traffic safety. The
following recommendations are offered.
1. A negligent operator treatment and evaluation system, with an enhanced
component designed to conduct ongoing research into the effective elements of
treatment letters, should be reinstituted to provide regular program and cost
effectiveness data to the Department’s decision makers. The enhanced component
should be guided both by the TTM and the research results emanating from that
model.
2. A no-contact control condition should be approved so that true experimental
research can be conducted. Smaller control groups and/or allowing one additional
point to accumulate before drivers are removed from the no-contact condition
should be considered as means to address the concerns of management.