Redesigning Educational Countermeasures to Increase Virginia Drivers’ Road-Sharing Safety Knowledge

Abstract

The lack of alignment between drivers’ and cyclists’ road-sharing knowledge results in unsafe interactions. To address this issue, educational countermeasures must clearly present and apply evidence-based practices to increase the likelihood that drivers will learn how to share the road safely with cyclists. In this study, we redesigned an existing Virginia road-sharing safety educational handbook to support a series of experiments. The redesign was based on established principles of instructional, organizational, and visual design. Virginia drivers completed a comprehension test after reviewing road-sharing educational material online. Results showed that reviewing the redesigned brochure did not improve global comprehension, law-based knowledge, and procedural knowledge about sharing the road with cyclists. However, the improved design of the educational material enhanced drivers’ declarative knowledge of road-sharing laws and safety. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of transferring these design choices to other transportation domains, so policymakers and instructors can effectively prioritize approaches for improving road safety.