ABSTRACT
Introduction: The present study investigated the extent of reduction in the generation of non-essential trips (i.e., for shopping, personal, social, and entertainment reasons) due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of psychological factors (including deliberate planning and personal moral obligations) in explaining the change. Method: We collected data through an internet survey conducted from April to June 2020. We recruited the respondents (N = 369) from a young segment of the population in Iran. The hypothesised model framework included the components of the theory of planned behaviour (including attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and intention to reduce non-essential trips) along with personal moral obligation. The framework also consisted of socio-demographic characteristics of age, gender, income, car ownership and trip distance. A structural equation model was developed to explain trip reduction at an aggregated level for four non-essential trip purposes (i.e., shopping, personal, social, and entertainment). In the aggregated model, trip-reducing behaviour represents the change in the number of trips for all non-essential purposes. We also tested the same framework, to explain trip reduction for each of the trip purposes, separately. Results: On average, the study participants reduced their non-essential trips by 60% during the pandemic compared with in the pre-COVID-19 period. Men were less likely than women to reduce the rate of their trips during the pandemic. The SEM demonstrated that the theory of planned behaviour predicted trip-generation behaviour during the abnormal situation represented by the pandemic. Perceived behavioural control both directly and indirectly impacted trip reduction. However, personal moral obligations failed to provide a direct explanation for trip generation reduction. According to the hypothesised model, the results for different trip purposes were also mostly in line with those from the aggregated model. Conclusions: The findings imply that participants in our sample made deliberate and planned psychological decisions (aligned with the theory of planned behaviour) regarding potential travel behavioural decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings also highlighted that perceived behavioural control grows in importance alongside growth in difficult circumstances.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Road traffic crashes are among the leading causes of death and disability in the world, particularly in low and middle-income countries. This study aimed at to conduct a social marketing formative research to inform the development of a campaign to manage driving speed on the intercity roads of Iran. METHODS: To carry out the social marketing formative research, a qualitative and quantitative study were conducted. Also, a literature review of the speed management strategies was carried out and an analysis of traffic accident data and speeding violations was performed in selected provinces during 2019 and 2020. RESULTS: Based on the findings of the qualitative study, perceived sense of lack of speed control, poor monitoring system, and law enforcement are the main reasons drivers exceed the speed limit. They mostly suggest using punitive levers and more stringent law enforcement practices for speed management. Literature reviews also confirm that to successfully develop an effective speed management plan a set of measures should be implemented together, including road safety engineering, raising awareness, social marketing strategies, and finally strict law enforcement. The overriding findings of the formative research revealed that to persuade Iranian drivers to respect the speed limit, the messages of the campaign should focus on strict law enforcement in the selected corridors. CONCLUSIONS: In the minds of the Iranian audience, strict law enforcement is of paramount importance for a speed management strategy to work; hence it should be taken into consideration when tailoring the campaign messages. From the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that to manage speed on intercity routes in Iran, a social marketing campaign is needed to encourage compliance with speed limits.
ABSTRACT
The rapid surge of COVID-19 cases worldwide drew attention to COVID-19 infection as a new source of risk in transport. The virus introduced a need for viral transmission mitigation as a major priority when selecting a mode of travel, and caused a significant drop in public transport use. The recovery of public transport use in the post-COVID period requires that the transport authorities favourably address people's demand for mitigation of the risk of COVID-19 transmission in public transport. The present study aims to explore the role of risk perception, worry and priority of COVID-19 risk reduction along with fatalistic beliefs and public trust in authorities in explaining public demand for risk mitigation. The present study is among the first to investigate the role of fatalistic beliefs, social trust and risk perception for public transport and public demand for risk mitigation. The link between priority of infection prevention and demand for risk mitigation has also been less explored in public transport research. An online survey was conducted among university students in Iran between 19th April and 16th June 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, when the country was a major epicentre of the disease. A total of 271 out of 370 respondents whose dominant mode on university travels was public transport were included in the analysis. Results of structural equation modelling confirmed the paradox of trust, indicating that social trust is negatively associated with perceived risk of COVID-19 infection, which in turn may lead people to place less importance on COVID-19 prevention as a priority in travel mode choice, and consequently demand less risk mitigation efforts to prevent COVID-19 infection in public transport. Dissimilar to trust, however, the results revealed no relationship between fatalistic beliefs and risk perception, but a significant direct effect of fatalistic beliefs on demand for risk mitigation. To reinforce public demand for mitigating the risk of COVID-19 in public transport, the study calls on policymakers to exploit public trust resources for more effective risk communication, through disseminating the gradually accumulating evidence-based information regarding the infectivity and the virulence of COVID-19 and the scientific risk of infection. The study also underlined the potential importance of considering fatalistic beliefs when developing effective risk communication policies and practices to enhance public support for COVID-19 risk mitigation in public transport.
ABSTRACT
The potential of mitigating the spreading rate and consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) currently depends on adherence to sanitary protocols (e.g., hand hygiene and social distancing). The current study aimed to investigate the role of fatalism and comparative optimism for adherence to COVID-19 protocols. We also tested whether these factors are directly associated with adherence or associated through attitudinal mediation. The results were based on a web survey conducted among university students (n = 370) in Tehran, Iran. The respondents completed a multidimensional measure of fatalism (general fatalism, internality, and luck) and measures of comparative optimism, attitudes toward COVID-19 health measures, and adherence. The estimated structural equation model explained approximately 40% of the total variance in attitudes toward COVID-19 protocols and adherence. As expected, high internality was associated with stronger adherence, whereas luck was associated with weaker adherence. Comparative optimism was more strongly associated with adherence than fatalism, and somewhat unexpectedly comparative optimism was associated with stronger adherence. Analyses of direct and indirect effects suggested that fatalism was mainly mediated through attitudes, whereas comparative optimism had both direct and mediated effects. The findings are discussed in relation to the role of these social psychological factors for COVID-19 mitigation.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Providing a sense of supervision for parents may facilitate their children's involvement in physical outdoor activities, such as walking to school. Information technology (IT) solutions could bring more parental supervision, which in turn has the potential to enhance the proportion of walking trips to school. This study aimed to examine the role of a proposed hypothetical IT solution that gives parents real-time information about children's entrance to and exit from the school, for the intention of parents letting their children walk to school. METHOD: A total of 820 questionnaires were distributed among pupils aged 7-9-years across 28 elementary schools to be completed by their parents (82% return rate). RESULTS: Compared to the group of walking pupils, increased parental intention to let their children walk to school under the proposed solution could be explained by considerably more variables in the group of pupils who did not walk to school. The findings revealed that increased parental intention was higher among the walking pupils compared to the non-walking pupils. For the non-walking pupils, enhancement of walking facilities across the school area could potentiate the use of the proposed solution by the parents, which in turn may increase the proportion of walking on school trips. In addition, boy pupils, the pupils whose parents evaluated walking more favorable, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and those living in close proximity to the school could more likely benefit by shifting from non-walking to walking modes of travel, after implementation of the solution.
