Nudging theory is confirmed by this year's Nobel Prize winner and SAFER is now testing the theory for improved traffic safety
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2017 to Richard H. Thaler, University of Chicago, IL, USA "for his contributions to behavioural economics". And the same theory – nudging – is now being tested at SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre to find out if road safety can be improved.
A nudge means a friendly, little push towards a behavioural change. The nudging concept relates to subconsciously pushing humans to make a desired choice, without being prohibitive against alternative choices of action. By preserving our freedom of action and giving us choice, nudging measures are less intrusive and can be provided earlier in a chain of events that might lead to a critical situation.
“The theory Mr Thaler has analyzed - nudging - is incredibly exciting. Especially when you can draw parallels between a Nobel Prize and SAFER's safety research. I look forward to following the development of the project and learning if nudging can actually be a measure for increasing road safety”, says Malin Persson, Communications manager at SAFER.
Nobel Prize winner believes that nudging can work
The American economist Richard H. Thaler is a pioneer in behavioural economics, a research field in which insights from psychological research are applied to economic decision-making. A behavioural perspective incorporates more realistic analysis of how people think and behave when making economic decisions, providing new opportunities for designing measures and institutions that increase societal benefit.
Indirect coaching can help taking smart decisions to help improve traffic safety
The EU-financed Horizon 2020 SAFER project MeBeSafe (Measures for Behaving Safely in Traffic), in which SAFER is involved, aims at reducing the number and severity of road accidents by directly changing our habitual traffic behaviour. Various nudging and coaching measures will be used to get tired drivers to take a break and cyclists to reduce their speed in intersections, for example. For most of us, navigating traffic is a very common activity and habitual, almost automatic. The project seeks to change this habitual behaviour and motivate drivers to preserving adequate traffic safety margins. Several nudging measures will be implemented in different facets of road transportation, mainly targeting drivers of powered road vehicles, but also laying a secondary focus on cyclists.
