Non-fear-based road safety campaign as a community service: Contexts from social media

Abstract

Traffic crash is a critical health hazard throughout the world. Traffic safety campaigns are important in increasing behavioral safety. Social media makes safety campaigns convenient due to its greater accessibility compared to mass media. Most road safety campaigns are fear-based. There is a need to use these campaigns carefully to reach a wider audience. Non-fear-based safety campaigns are limited in number, and their impact is significant in changing public attitudes towards safety. This study collected YouTube comment data from two non-fear-based safety campaigns and compared their impacts by using natural language processing tools. The findings of this study can help policymakers in understanding public perception and determining appropriate measures to improve road user behavior. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.