OMB Control No. 2127-XXXX
Expiration Date xx/xx/2011
Paperwork Reduction Act Burden Statement
A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection of information displays a current valid OMB Control Number. The OMB Control Number for this information collection is 2127-XXXX. Public reporting for this collection of information is estimated to be approximately 80 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, completing and reviewing the collection of information. All responses to this collection of information are voluntary. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: Information Collection Clearance Officer, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E., Washington, DC, 20590
Draft Moderator Guide for the Phase II Focus Group Activities on the “Motivations for Speeding” Project (DTNH22-08-R-00143)
[Note that the Moderator’s Guide serves as a framework to help the moderator generally cover the topics of interest. However, given that this is a moderated discussion, these questions should be considered to be more as “touch points” rather than fixed topics. The moderator will follow up on related topics opportunistically, with the objective of exploring issues related to the topics of interest.]
Good (Morning, Afternoon, Evening). My name is John Brock1 and I am the moderator for today’s discussion. As you were probably told by the person who called you, we will be here for about two hours and the purpose of today’s group is to talk about a number of topics related to yourselves, driving, and your selection of speed while you drive. We are more interested in hearing about your own experiences than those of others you know.
SELF DISCLOSURES: I work for a company called Windwalker, Inc., which provides research to clients on a wide variety of subjects. I travel around the country talking to groups like yours and giving them opportunities to share their thoughts, ideas and feelings. That’s what we’ll do here tonight.
Please remember, my job is to report what you have to say back to my client, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the US Department of Transportation. I have no vested interest in your answers. I am not here to sell you anything and my job will continue regardless of how you answer. Thus, I encourage you to be honest and feel free to offer both positive and negative comments.
BROADER DISCLOSURES: As you also may have noticed, this session is being videotaped. This is not because I want to keep track of “who said what” but more to keep a record of today’s information for my report. I do a lot of these groups in many cities and it would be difficult for me to remember the specifics of each group without having something to help verify what I’m reporting. I assure you, the tape will be used for no other purpose.
GROUND RULES: Before we get started, I’d like to go over some ground rules to help me get the information I need and help you get an idea about how focus groups work.
Please speak clearly and one at a time so that everyone in the group can hear you. Also, keep your voice level at least as loud as mine is now so that the tape can pick up what you say.
The groups will be conducted using first names only. None of you will be identified by name in my report or anywhere else.
You are each being paid for your time to be here because we are interested in what you have to say. Thus, it is important that we hear from everyone. There will be times when you may be the only one in the group that feels a particular way. Please speak up when this occurs as this group represents a larger population. You may not think the same way as anyone in this room, but you may be representing the ideas of thousands of other people that are not here tonight. All opinions are valuable. There are no right or wrong answers.
At any time feel free to get up and get additional refreshments or go to the rest room if you would like. Smoking is not permitted inside the session.
Are there any questions? OK, before we begin, let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves by giving our first names and a brief description of where we’d be and what we’d be doing if we weren’t here right now. I’ll go first: I’m John, and if I weren’t here I’d probably still be at work, writing up a report on a focus group like this one.
Now that we all know each other, let’s get started.
Now, I’d like you to think back a little bit to your early driving days.
How did you learn to drive?
Are there any key things you will always remember about that experience?
If you were teaching a friend or younger brother/sister to drive (child for older groups), what are the most important things you would tell them?
Now let’s go back to those driving lessons. Discussions about driving can cover many topics but we are most interested in finding out how and why you choose your driving speeds, situations when you will choose to speed, and what sort of conditions or factors might inhibit you from speeding.
First, what are your typical driving speeds: below the speed limit, at or near the speed limit, above the speed limit?
Would this vary depending on the roadway you are on: residential street, 35mph arterial road, 60 mph freeway?
What are some of the conditions or factors that you consider when setting your speed (go through discussions, then probe relative impacts of: posted speed limit, concerns about getting a ticket, traffic conditions and volumes, road conditions, etc.).
Now, I’d like to get your opinions about posted speed limits.
When you see a posted speed limit sign, how do you interpret it or how does it affect your driving?
What does the posted speed mean to you (PROBES: maximum speed, target speed, recommended speed, etc).
Does your view differ for different types of roads (e.g., residential, commercial, rural, highways, freeways)?
How do you think posted speeds are set?
How credible/useful are they to you?
In general, how risky do you think it is to exceed the posted speed?
Is there a speed at which you think it becomes unsafe?
I’d like to talk a bit more about driving speed.
Generally, how aware are you of your driving speed?
Are there certain conditions or situations in which you become more aware of your speed (PROBES: unfamiliar roads/locations; nearby pedestrians/bicyclists; driving in town; passengers).
Are there certain passengers or types of passengers that make you more careful about your speed?
Are there any passenger types or that make you less careful about your speed?
Have there been any specific driving situations –maybe a close call – that you’ve experienced that have had a big influence on your attitudes or behaviors about speeding? [probe: discuss example situations]
How did they change your attitudes or behaviors about speeding?
Have you ever received a ticket or warning for speeding; and under what circumstances (speed vs. posted speed, type of roadway, time-of-day, etc.)?
Did that change your driving behavior in any way?
Now I’m going to walk through a series of options for how our society could respond to excessive speeding and ask for your thoughts and opinions about each one. I’ll include descriptions and pictures for each option.
In each case we will discuss your thoughts about:
Whether it helps solve the problem.
Whether it will improve safety.
Advantages and disadvantages.
Ideas you might have for how to implement the option.
[Moderator’s Note: remain sensitive to whether respondents clearly match responses to countermeasures.
Provide Description: This involves deliberately higher penalties for aggressive driving, or drivers who get repeated speeding tickets. This could include the potential for criminal charges for drivers that get in crashes caused by excessive speed, and other higher penalties such as costlier fines, higher insurance costs, license suspensions, etc.
How effective do you think that these types of countermeasures would be?
What would be some advantages and disadvantages?
What concerns or suggestions would you have about how to implement this in our cities and neighborhoods?
Provide Description: This would apply to drivers that get repeated speeding tickets, who would then get a chance to have the offences dismissed/removed if they attended a speeding awareness course. The course itself would cover the costs and dangers of speeding, in addition to strategies for not speeding.
How effective do you think that this type of countermeasures would be?
What would be some advantages and disadvantages?
What concerns or suggestions would you have about how to implement this in our cities and neighborhoods?
Provide Description: These include making changes to roadways in certain areas, such as residential streets that “naturally” discourage fast driving. These measures can provide a perception of driving faster than you really are (e.g., tree-lined street with parking), or include the redesign of roadways to deliberately slow you down (e.g., wide speed bump, roundabouts, or other speed-calming measures).
How effective do you think that these types of countermeasures would be?
What would be some advantages and disadvantages?
What concerns or suggestions would you have about how to implement this in our cities and neighborhoods?
IV-4) Countermeasure 4: Vehicle-based Countermeasures
Provide Description: These countermeasures involve devices installed on vehicles that directly or indirectly encourage drivers to go slower. This includes devices that physically limit how fast your vehicle can go, and those that provide reminders of how fast you are traveling relative to the posted speed. Another option is a “fuel economy” display that discourages aggressive driving.
How effective do you think that these types of countermeasures option would be?
What would be some advantages and disadvantages?
What concerns or suggestions would you have about how to implement this in our cities and neighborhoods?
IV-5) Countermeasure 5: Automated Enforcement
Provide Description: This involves some type of “Radar” camera placed either at fixed or random locations that take pictures of passing vehicles that are speeding. These vehicles are not pulled over by a police officer, but rather a speeding ticket is sent to the registered vehicle owner by mail.
How effective do you think that this option would be?
What would be some advantages and disadvantages?
What concerns or suggestions would you have about how to implement this in our cities and neighborhoods?
V. CLOSE
Thank you again for taking the time to come out and talk with us this [morning, afternoon, evening]. Before closing, are there any additional thoughts you’d like to offer about the topics we discussed? [If not, conclude the session, if so, briefly allow additional thoughts to come forward.] The person at the front desk will give you your stipend for participating.
1 At this time, we expect that John Brock from Windwalker, Inc. will moderate each focus group.
NHTSA Form 1113
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Campbell, John L |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-02-01 |