One important part of driver education is to convince the candidates to use

the safety equipment in the car such as safety belts and airbags in a correct

manner. If there is an accident, the injuries will be less severe if the

safety equipment are not only used but also used in a correct way. There are,

however, findings showing that there are gaps in the current driver education

when it comes to convincing candidates to use safety equipment. At some of

the skid tracks in Sweden, an additional educational concept has been

developed that is focusing on convincing drivers to use the safety equipment

in the car. The concept is named "Safety halls" where the main aim is to

provide knowledge about the different safety equipment of the car and how it

should be used in order to create highest possible safety. Candidates doing

the mandatory skid training at these skid tracks will also attend this new

training. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible effects of

safety halls on the candidates' knowledge, attitudes and self reported

behaviour regarding the areas safety belts, tyres, sitting posture, load,

airbag, and speed. The study was carried out at the eight skid tracks in

Sweden that had a safety hall at the time of the evaluation. At all skid

tracks, candidates were randomly distributed into an experiment group (skid

training and safety hall) and a control group (only skid training). At the

arrival to the skid track all candidates filled out a questionnaire (before

measurement). The same candidates also filled out the same questionnaire

directly after finishing the education programme (after measurement 1). Four

and a half months later a similar questionnaire was sent by post to the same

candidates (after measurement 2). A total of 1,326 candidates (658 in the

experiment group and 668 in the control group) filled out all three

questionnaires and thus formed the sample for the overall analyses. In the

questionnaires, questions were asked about background factors such as age,

gender, highest education in the family etc. There were also knowledge

questions, attitude questions and questions about self reported behaviour. In

general, the findings show that the extra education in safety halls increases

the knowledge, improves the attitudes about traffic safety and strengthen the

intentions to behave safe. The improvements are largest when measured

directly after the education, but effects still remain after 4½ months. Some

of the areas covered shows better results (in the experiment group compared

to the control group) than others. Above all, the two areas safety belts and

load showed the best results on knowledge, attitudes and intentions, both in

a short and long term. The evaluation has also shown that there is a need for

improvement of the current education in the safety halls if the expected

effects should be improved.