Nearing its final phase, BriSaR “Bringing Safety on the Roads” project’s goal has been to encourage the change of attitudes and behaviours regarding road safety. In practice, this is done by supporting correctional staff in prison and probation settings with more effective programmes for road offenders.
In the collection of existing road offender’s programmes and research evidence, the project consortium concluded that these initiatives should, without a doubt, occupy a central place in the sentence of offenders who committed road crimes.
Within the programme’s structure, cognitions and behaviours must be addressed, considering the improved efficacy that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-based interventions seem to have in the rehabilitation process. In addition, a combination of methods is known to be more effective for promoting the participants’ engagement.
From this information, BriSaR was built as a multimodal, multicomponent and multidisciplinary programme that combines educative, rehabilitative, medical and punitive dimensions. In the theoretical framework of its conception, Cognitive Behavioural Theories, Social Learning Theories, Motivational Interviewing, the Transtheoretical Model of Change, and The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) were incorporated.
BriSaR’s intervention programme has been piloted in three countries: Romania, Turkey and Portugal, involving around 50 offenders. These pilots yielded positive results, namely the reduction of driving anger and negative problem-solving orientation. Offenders who took part in the pilot programme achieved an increased perceived self-efficacy. Moreover, the intervention helped participants accept the consequences of their behaviour and develop an internal control over their actions.
The project held its final meeting on the 29th and 30th of November 2021, where project partners reviewed the project implementation results, including the achievements and challenges of the pilot experience, and the project’s scalability perspectives.
A dissemination event of the project’s work was organised 27th of December 2021 by the Portuguese Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP). Around 50 professionals involved with the road offender process in the judicial system participated in this online event that contextualised the project and its development. The results of the piloting were also presented to the public in this meeting.
BriSaR project is promoted by European Strategies Consulting (Romania) in partnership with IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (Portugal), the Loyola University Foundation Andalucia (Spain), the Ministry of Justice – Probation Directorate Ankara (Turkey), the Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (Portugal) and Aproximar – Social Solidarity Cooperative (Portugal). This project is financed by ERASMUS+ programme and KA2 – Strategic Partnerships for adult education.