PROJECTS IN PROGRESS

SAFEAST- Towards Safer Road Traffic in Eastern Mediterranean Region

Every year, over 41,000 people die and 1.6 million get injured in European road traffic. There are however considerable regional differences in the number of traffic deaths. Despite this vast difference between the Southern and Europe in traffic safety, the reasons behind different accident risk figures have remained mainly unexamined. This Transfer of Knowledge Project is aimed at improving the knowledge and research skills of Eastern Mediterranean traffic researchers by training experienced researchers in Greece and Turkey and sending selected researchers to the leading road safety research institutes in EU. The actions will target following new or under- developed priority areas in traffic safety research in Eastern Mediterranean region: human factors, societal factors in traffic safety, driving abilities of elderly professional drivers, and social psychological models of traffic behavior. New research and training in these theory based research areas will produce practical applications for driver education and licensing, enforcement, driver selection and engineering solutions. This project is a multi- disciplinary project in which traffic safety experts in different fields will be working together. Similarly, every project will include an incoming expert and local researchers. Especially, collaboration between Greek and Turkish researchers will be supported. In the first phase, research projects will be conducted in Turkey. In the second phase, core group of researchers will be sent to a specialized training period to partner institutes. The emphasis of the training will be in new methods and technologies.

ELDERLY- The Psychotechnical Testing of the Elderly Professional Drivers in Turkey

Every year over 5000 people lose their lives in Turkish road traffic. More than half of the persons killed in traffic accidents are drivers or passengers of coaches or goods road vehicles. In other Southern European countries, the proportion of people killed in accidents involving a professional driver is much lower (e.g. 11% in Italy, 18% in Spain). In safer Western European countries, heavy vehicle and coach accidents cause much less casualties (e.g. UK 7%, Germany 5%). These figures show that especially professional drivers are a risky driver group in Turkey and safety interventions targeted at this group would result in considerable improvement in traffic safety. Analyses of road accidents indicate that human factors are a sole or contributory factor in approx. 90% of accidents. In addition to a stable and risk-avoiding personality and safe traffic attitudes, safe and efficient driving requires a professional driver to have adequately functioning perceptual-motor abilities. These cognitive abilities include accurate perception of traffic situations, fast information processing and decision-making abilities, and an ability to act appropriately. Several of these crucial abilities decline with increasing age, first symptoms occurring usually as early as in the age of fifty-five. Different neurological conditions or impairment of visual functions can lead to a remarkable decline in driving ability and increased accident risk. Since the deterioration in neuropsychological and visual functions occur gradually and only in certain conditions (e.g. when driving in darkness or in non-familiar road), even the driver himself is not aware of his condition and the impairment in driving ability is often observed too late. According to literature, elderly drivers are more frequently involved in fatal accidents and especially in intersection accidents than other driver groups. Unlike ordinary drivers, elderly professional drivers cannot avoid complex situations requiring simultaneous processing of several tasks. Therefore, it is crucial to assess elderly professional drivers’ cognitive and visual abilities regularly with adequate ability tests. The 1st objective of this project is to investigate how fit elderly Turkish professional drivers are to drive by testing drivers with selected vision and neuropsychological tests and psychological inventories. The 2nd objective is to investigate which vision and neuropsychological tests and psychological inventories (including safety attitudes and personality) predict elderly professional drivers’ driving errors, violations and accidents. The aim is to construct a test battery, which could be used in occupational health services for assessing professional drivers’ driving abilities. The 3rd objective is to develop a computerized test for measuring three basic components of driving and a “Short Driving Symptom Inventory” to detect possible problems in driving. The 4th objective is to start the process for establishing a driving ability clinic for assessing driving abilities of professional drivers and drivers with neuropsychological and vision problems. The 5th objective is to conduct a follow-up study for predicting possible decline in future work and driving abilities. The follow-up time would vary from 2 years to 10 years depending on the age of the drivers. The 6th objective is to investigate “safety culture” of the companies involved in the study and their policies for elderly drivers. In this study, fitness-to-drive of 200 older (50+) professional drivers will be assessed in a clinic. Assessment includes vision tests, neuropsychological tests, health survey, psychological inventories and driving related inventories and tests. Project will lead to at least five publications in scientific journals and conference presentations, and practical suggestions for testing of elderly (professional) drivers in Turkey. A test battery and assessment manual will be provided as project outcome.

COST 357- nicknamed PROHELM, researches Accident Prevention Options with Motorcycle Helmet

As stated in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), riders of powered two-wheeled vehicles, like motorcycles, account for about 14% of all traffic fatalities in the EU, or over 6000 persons annually. Statistics make clear that an integral motorcycle  helmet (full facial protection) is a life-saver in an accident, but do not address the question of whether the helmet has been optimized for the cognitive needs of the wearer, such as minimizing distraction due to noise or thermal discomfort, maximizing useful visual information, and providing the necessary air exchange. At the same time, because automobile drivers are responsible fore about ½ of all PTW accidents, the helmet could play an important role in optimizing the visibility, or conspicuity, of the PTW-rider combination, since it is generally the highest visible point and can be seen from all sides. To summarize, we aim at learning how the cognitive abilities of PTW-riders are influenced by the helmet construction, and how the cognitive abilities of other drivers could be influenced. In particular, we would like to parameterize these aspects of motorcycle helmets, so that it becomes  possible to measure them. This is the first effort which encompasses researchers from the necessary breadth of backgrounds to address the complex issues involved, and it benefits from a wide geographic variation as well.