Title: Rehabilitation of drivers who misapply or do not use child restraint systems in cars in Austria

Authors: Christine Chaloupka-Risser

Addresses: FACTUM OG, Danhausergasse 6/4, A-1040 Vienna, Austria

Abstract: Risk in traffic is very often related to the kind of driving style, endangering passengers and other road users. Sometimes an accident may occur without too much false behaviour of the driver. Risk for the passenger - often children - then may occur because of the driver not being aware of the sense of passive safety items like safety belts. Causes for this risky behaviour of adults - primarily parents - may lie in lack of knowledge of physical principles, ignorance of existing traffic laws, taking too little time to handle the buckling up or falsely delegating the responsibility to other technical in-car-systems like airbags. This paper will give insight into the Austrian traffic law regarding the correct use of child restraint systems as well as information about the criteria which have to be taken into consideration while conducting rehabilitation courses with traffic offenders. The psychological treatment will be discussed under consideration of underlying psychological theories regarding behaviour modification.

Keywords: driver rehabilitation; child restraint systems; transtheoretical models; road safety; Austria; traffic law; psychological treatment; behaviour modification; psychology; risky behaviour; risk taking.

DOI: 10.1504/LAJMSD.2015.071984

Latin American Journal of Management for Sustainable Development, 2015 Vol.2 No.2, pp.148 - 159

Received: 19 Dec 2014
Accepted: 09 Apr 2015

Published online: 26 Sep 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article