Rewards to stimulate safety belt use : an overview of research findings.

A multitude of psychological theories - generally in the field of learning and motivation reserve an important place for the principle of reward. In theories varying from those postulated by Skinner and Banduras modern stimulus response theories to theories with a more cognitive orientation, such as Festingers cognitive dissonance theory, goal-setting and expectancy theory, rewards are explicitly regarded as powerful influences on behaviour, even though the principles and presumed mechanisms of effect of the individual theories can vary greatly (see for an overview Lindzey and Aronson, 1985, for example). No matter how different these theories may be, the effect of reward is generally considered greater than that of punishment. Nevertheless, it has been traditional practice in the (Dutch) traffic system for desirable behaviour to be stimulated by rules and laws, resulting in the punishment of offences. The possible role of reward in influencing safe behaviour in traffic is hardly recognised. In recent years, however, this concept is also beginning to reach this field of application. This paper gives an overview of the research that has been performed to determine the effect of rewards (incentives) on safety belt use. In particular the effect of offering material rewards is considered. The greatest proportion of research was performed in the United States: in the Netherlands, only a few studies have been done in this field

Drivers' opinions of enforcement and incentive strategies to promote safety belt use.

During a nationwide campaign to promote safety belt use among military personnel, a field study was conducted at 12 different military bases in the Netherlands. Amount of enforcement, type of publicity, and incentive strategies were varied among military bases. Observations of safety belt use among servicemen in their personal vehicles were conducted before the campaign, immediately following the campaign, and 3 months later. Safety belt use increased from 65 percent during baseline to 73 percent directly after the campaign and to 76 percent 3 months later. an overall 28.6 percent increase in safety belt use (from 63 percent to 81 percent) was observed at seven bases, whereas no changes were found at five bases (68 percent on all occasions). To a large degree the effects were due to a 37.7 percent increase among young drivers. These results confirmed that enforcement, as well as incentives, can be effective in promoting safety belt use. However, treatment effects were not systematic, thereby complicating the interpretation of the results. Implications of these varied outcomes are discussed. (Author/publisher

"That bollard could have been a child"; On traffic safety and human behaviour in traffic

Transport and PlanningCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Distracted cycling: What do we know (PPT)

Transport and Plannin

"Dat paaltje had ook een kind kunnen zijn"; over verkeersveiligheid en gedrag van mensen in het verkeer

Transport and PlanningCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Improving road safety: Experiences from the Netherlands

Dr. Hagenzieker's research and education activities focus on the road safety effects of the transport system, with particular interest in road user behaviour aspects. Her PhD-research was on the effects of rewards on road user behaviour.Transport & PlanningCivil Engineering and Geoscience

How do dutch drivers perceive horizontal curves on freeway interchanges and which cues influence their speed choice?

Operating speeds in Dutch freeway curves differ often by 20 km/h compared to their design speeds. Operating speed is thought to be influenced by how drivers perceive curves when approaching a curve. This explorative research explores which curve cues and other variables influence drivers’ speed choice in curves. For this purpose, a survey was designed with 28 sets of curve comparisons. The curves were chosen from interchanges in the Netherlands and were compared to each other. To avoid direction bias, the curves were right turning only. In each set illustrations of two different curves out of a total of 8 curves were shown, and the participants were asked in which curve they would drive faster. In total 819 participants in the age range of 18 and 78 (mean=41.3; Std.=11.9) completed the survey. The survey data showed four common categories of curve cues and variables influencing the decision to drive faster, of which those in the category of the road environment and its surroundings were mentioned the most. The top three variables influencing speed choice are visibility of curve characteristics, “overview” as a holistic but as such hard to measure variable, and number of lanes. Variables such as presence of signage and trees were also mentioned frequently by the respondents. Geometric road characteristics such as curve radius and deflection angle were identified by the respondents as influencing variables, but only showing to affect speed selection when these are visible to the driver and not obscured by trees or other elements. This suggests combinations of geometric and surrounding elements are needed to get a better understanding of speed selection by drivers.</p

The history of road safety research: A quantitative approach

In this paper we provide a global description in quantitative terms, of the developments in road safety research from the early 1900's until 2010. To this end, electronic databases have been searched and papers matching search criteria were selected for analysis. Word and co-word frequencies of key-words in all the titles and abstracts of these publications were collected and analysed. In this study, we explored the possibility to identify historical trends in road safety research topics. Furthermore we explored whether the important paradigms concerning the history of road safety research as presented in the literature can be confirmed on quantitative grounds. It is concluded that the first results are promising: varying trends over time could be identified in the selected topics, which are generally in line with the different road safety paradigms. Finally, a number of limitations of the present study are listed, including the incompleteness of the currently used dataset. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Working towards a Meaningful Transition of Human Control over Automated Driving Systems

Automated vehicles with partial automation, supporting both longitudinal and lateral control of the vehicle, are currently available for the consumer. The consequences of driving with this type of advanced driver assistance systems is not well-known, and could cause the human driver to become out-of-the-loop, or cause other types of adverse behavioural adaptation, leading to dangerous circumstances. Therefore, understanding what the effects of driving with automated driving systems are from the human driver’s perspective is becoming imperative. By means of a literature-based approach, this paper presents a framework of human control over automated driving systems. This framework shows the quantified distribution of human behaviour over all the levels of automation. The implications, discrepancies and apparent mismatches this framework elicits are discussed, and recommendations are made to provide a meaningful transition of human control over automated driving systems.Transport and Plannin