UNC study investigates effects of staged crashes on teen driving habits

A UNC study investigating the effectiveness of staged car crashes is set to be completed this month.

Chris McGrath, a flight nurse at UNC Carolina Air Care, will administer the final round of surveys in the Dula Dangerous Driving Index in the coming weeks. The surveys come six months after a mock car crash was staged for Chapel Hill, East Chapel Hill and Carrboro high schools.

McGrath first surveyed students two weeks before and the day of the April mock car crash, he said.

The follow-up surveys will check for possible changes in student behavior.

“We want people to understand that we want to change behaviors, and the only way to do it is through public education,” McGrath said.

The study, which McGrath believes is the first of its kind, aims to determine if mock car crashes can effectively prevent unsafe driving habits. The index measures a driver’s inclination to make dangerous driving decisions by asking about 35 questions about driving habits, like texting.

In the mock car accident, emergency personnel mimicked the procedure of a real crash, with students acting as the victims.

The crash was paired with an assembly during which officials from highway safety and emergency medical services as well as the district attorney gave their perspectives on car accidents, McGrath said.

“They get to talk to teenagers before they’re coming behind them with blue lights,” he said.

The Chapel Hill High School student chapter of Students Against Violence Everywhere will use the results of McGrath’s study to decide how to spend a $500 grant, said Jim Wise, the group’s adviser.

Wise said that if McGrath finds the mock car crash has a long-term effect, driving safety awareness events might be spread throughout the year instead of concentrated in prom season.

The national anti-violence organization awarded 75 mini-grants, said Carleen Wray, the group’s executive director.

Chapel Hill High’s branch was selected because of its plans on how to spend the money, including painting speed bumps in the school parking lot with messages and statistics about safe driving practices.

Wray said she was also impressed with the mock car crash staged at the school every other year.

“They’re good at making it a community event, about getting not only their students involved and aware but also the community,” she said.

But Robert Foss, the director of the Center for the Study of Young Drivers at UNC, said he is skeptical of the effects of awareness campaigns.

“They tell people what they already know,” Foss said. “Rarely, if ever, do they affect behavior.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.