Pro-social behaviour in young passengers: Predictive utility of the social reaction pathway of the prototype willingness model

This study examined the social reaction pathway of the Prototype Willingness Model (PWM) to assess how attitudes, subjective norms, prototype perception (favourability and similarity), and risk perception influenced young passengers’ willingness to speak up to a driver exceeding the posted speed limit by either 5 km/h or 10 km/h. It was hypothesised that participants would be more willing to speak up to drivers’ travelling 10 km/h over the posted speed limit than 5 km/h over the posted speed limit. Further, it was hypothesised that the PWM constructs would significantly predict passenger willingness to speak up to a driver travelling 5 km/h over the posted speed limit and 10 km/h over the posted speed limit. Young Australians aged 17 to 25 years (N = 136, Mage = 19.32, 77.9% female) were recruited to complete a 30-minute online questionnaire. As predicted, passengers were significantly more willing to speak up to drivers travelling at 10 km/h over the posted speed limit than drivers travelling 5 km/h over the posted speed limit. Further, the results from a linear regression revealed that some of the PWM constructs were effective in explaining the variance in willingness to speak-up to drivers travelling either 5 km/h or 10 km/h over the posted speed limit. These findings address a gap in road safety research by shifting focus from the behaviour of drivers to the behaviour of passengers. The focus on the pro-social behaviour of speaking up to drivers performing risk taking behaviours may help to inform future educational campaigns and interventions designed to reduce young peoples’ involvement in road crashes.