There is a growing population of older people around the world and the population of older drivers is increasing in parallel. UK government figures in 2012 reported that there were more than 15 million people with a driving license aged over 60; more than 1 million of these were over 80. The aim of this thesis is to determine the requirements of older users for an improved driving experience leading to recommendations for the automotive industry. Initially it was necessary to understand some of the key issues concerning the driving experiences of older drivers; therefore a questionnaire survey of drivers of all ages (n=903) was conducted supplemented by interviews with drivers aged ≥ 65 years (n=15). Areas covered included: musculoskeletal symptoms, the vehicle seat, driving performance and driving behaviour. Respondents reported that they were dissatisfied with adjusting specific seat features, for example the head rest height and distance from the head; females reported more difficulty than males. Reaching and pulling the boot door down to close was difficult for 12% of older females. Older males and females also reported more difficulties with parallel parking and driving on a foggy day than younger drivers (p < 0.01). Nearly half of the sample (47%) reported that other drivers lights restrict their vision when driving at night. An in depth study was conducted to compare participants own vehicle (familiar) and a test vehicle (unfamiliar) to understand how design of the vehicle cab impacts on posture, comfort, health and wellbeing in older drivers (n=47, ≥ 50 years). The study involved functional performance assessments, seat set-up process evaluation (observations and postural analysis), ergonomics and emotional design based evaluations of car seat controls. Many issues were identified related to the seat controls such as operating, accessing, reaching and finding, particularly for the head rest height and lumbar support adjustments. Approximately 40% of the participants had difficulty turning their head and body around to adjust the head rest height, and the majority of these were over 80. This led to a series of workshops (including a participatory design exercise) with 18 participants (4 groups, ≥ 65 years).The aim was to explore the optimum positioning and operation of controls for older drivers. This research has provided foundational data and makes design recommendations for the automotive industry with a focus on making seat controls more inclusive (operation, location, type, size, colour and materials) and meet the requirements of older drivers.

Worldwide, young drivers are involved in more road traffic collisions than any other age group (Taubman & Katz, 2012). Comprehensive driver training and various forms of pre- and- post-test road safety interventions (RSIs) are in place, but young drivers continue to be involved in more at-fault, fatal collisions than older, newly qualified drivers (e.g. Emmerson, 2008; Braitman et al, 2008; Clarke et al, 2010). The evidence base to date is mixed regarding why young drivers are at a heightened risk of collision and so this thesis aims to provide further understanding about the factors underpinning young drivers’ engagement in risky driving. An evaluation of a young driver RSI, found that young males were less likely than young females to report safer attitudes and intentions after attending the RSI. We considered that this may be due to young males’ behaviour being motivated by a desire to seek rewards (e.g. the thrill of risky driving) rather than a fear of punishment which forms the basis of traditional RSIs. Two subsequent studies were conducted to ascertain whether a heightened sensitivity to reward might underpin the risk-taking behaviour of those most at risk. We found that young males and females scoring high on reward sensitivity reported engaging in more road traffic violations and displayed slower reaction times on a driving game; suggesting that young people may have a heightened sensitivity to reward, in general, and concurrently tend to accept a higher degree of risk than other drivers. We also found that reward sensitive young drivers rated road safety messages framed in terms of financial gains as most effective, suggesting that financial incentives may be a potential route to engage young drivers in the future. The findings from another study provided insight into the precise mechanisms at play in the relationship between young drivers and their peer passengers, and the evaluation of the pilot peer-to-peer RSI showed how it might be possible to improve young drivers’ intentions to drive safely by modifying the norm that risky driving is an appropriate way to attain social prestige within a peer group. The thesis offers a significant contribution to the literature by establishing empirically the effect of reward sensitivity on young drivers’ engagement in risky driving and suggesting multiple ways to better improve young drivers’ safety in the future.

Das vorliegende Schulungsmaterial unterstützt die standardisierte Durchführung von Beobachtungen sicherheitskritischer Situationen und Verkehrszählungen von Radfahrenden mit Hilfe des DradEsel-Beobachtungsbogens und DRadEsel-Radverkehrszählungsbogens.

Der vorliegende Beobachtungsbogen kann zur standardisierten Beobachtung sicherheitskritischer Situationen von Radfahrenden eingesetzt werden. Zur korrekten Anwendung des Beobachtungsbogens im Feld wird empfohlen, das zugehörige Schulungsmaterial vorbereitend zu nutzen.

Der vorliegende Radverkehrszählungsbogen kann begleitend zur standardisierten Beobachtung sicherheitskritischer Situation von Radfahrenden eingesetzt werden, um die Grundgesamtheit von Radfahrenden im beobachteten Bereich zu bestimmen. Zur korrekten Anwendung des Radverkehrszählungsbogens im Feld wird empfohlen, das zugehörige Schulungsmaterial vorbereitend zu nutzen.

Das vorliegende Schulungsmaterial unterstützt die halbstandardisierte Interviewbefragung Radfahrender zu sicherheitskritischen Situationen mit Hilfe des DRadEsel-Interviewleitfadens.

Der vorliegende Interviewleitfaden kann zur halbstandardisierten Befragung Radfahrender zu sicherheitskritischen Situationen eingesetzt werden. Zur korrekten Anwendung des Interviewleitfadens im Feld wird empfohlen, das zugehörige Schulungsmaterial vorbereitend zu nutzen.

This project examines the safety management of civil aircraft accident investigation authorities in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Member States, with particular emphasis on the independence of the investigations. The research aims to establish the current level of resources and methodology adopted by Member States’ accident investigation authorities. The output of this work not only identifies the current situation but informs initiatives for some of the States in the process of establishing their investigation capability. ICAO Annex 13 was analysed and found to be based on the principle of independent accident investigations. Also, a four dimensional measuring index (4DMI) has been developed to measure the independence of accident investigations in ICAO Member States. Data were collected from 45 States and are presented in the thesis. As a result of applying the 4DMI to the collected data, the States were ranked according to their scores, and divided into four categories of independence. Analysis of the four categories and the scores from the four dimensions revealed that States approach the concept of investigation independence in different ways; however, there are several practices that are common within the highest independence category and several other practices that are common within the lowest independence category. The research recommends that States should work towards improving their overall investigation independence by implementing the seven identified practices in the High-Independence category and distance themselves from the five practices identified as common in the Low-Independence category.

The development of technologies for preventing drowsiness at the wheel is a major challenge in the field of accident avoidance systems. Preventing drowsiness during driving requires a method for accurately detecting a decline in driver alertness and a method for alerting and refreshing the driver. As a detection method, the authors have developed a system that uses image processing technology to analyse images of the road lane with a video camera integrated with steering wheel angle data collection from a car simulation system. The main contribution of this study is a novel algorithm for drowsiness detection and tracking, which is based on the incorporation of information from a road vision system and vehicle performance parameters. Refinement of the algorithm is more precisely detected the level of drowsiness by the implementation of a support vector machine classification for robust and accurate drowsiness warning system. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification technique diminished drowsiness level by using non intrusive systems, using standard equipment sensors, aim to reduce these road accidents caused by drowsiness drivers. This detection system provides a non-contact technique for judging various levels of driver alertness and facilitates early detection of a decline in alertness during driving. The presented results are based on a selection of drowsiness database, which covers almost 60 hours of driving data collection measurements. All the parameters extracted from vehicle parameter data are collected in a driving simulator. With all the features from a real vehicle, a SVM drowsiness detection model is constructed. After several improvements, the classification results showed a very good indication of drowsiness by using those systems.

Vehicles being driven for work purposes represent a large proportion of road collision and deaths in the workplace. These observations mean that people driving for work can impose a large burden on organisations and on society. In addition, previous studies identified a fleet driver effect for which there was greater collision risk for those who drive for work compared to the general driving population, even after controlling for exposure. This accentuates the need for both organisational and government policy makers to take steps to reduce the impact of these collisions. No single intervention has been found to solve issues around work-related road safety therefore a range of initiatives have been directed towards the risks associated with drivers, vehicles, journeys and organisations. Many of the interventions, however, lack robust evidence to support their use. The aim of this thesis is to assess organisational interventions to improve work-related road safety by using econometric models on real-world data. The data represents driving claims made between 2005 and 2012 by employees of a large UK company, with a fleet of approximately 35,000 vehicles. The drivers were employed in a variety of roles such as working in technical positions at customer sites or making sales visits. The company has applied a range of strategies to road safety resulting in annual claim reductions of 7.7% compared to only a 4.5% reduction in collisions nationally. The company s data are used to undertake three studies which focused on driver training, manager training and claim segmentation. Statistical models were employed to investigate the effect of two different driver training courses on the frequency of claims while controlling for other factors. The results indicated that driver training courses significantly reduced both the total number of claims and the claim types targeted by the training. The impacts of the interventions were also adjusted for the effects of non-random driver selection and other safety improvements initiated by the company or other agencies. An important finding of this work was that randomly inflated pre-training events accounted for between a third and a quarter of the observed reduction in claims following training. The second study evaluated the impact of management training on claims using multilevel models which allowed for correlation between observations. The study could not confirm that this training was an effective safety intervention. This null result provides an incentive to re-evaluate the implementation of the scheme. The final study identified homogeneous claim segments using statistical models and the impact of training was evaluated on these segments. Such claims were estimated to be reduced by between 32% to 55% following existing driver training courses. This thesis has helped close important gaps and contributed to knowledge in terms of both intervention methodology and the understanding of the effectiveness of work-related road safety interventions. The results, which are already being applied in the case study organisation, demonstrated that training employees in either safe and fuel efficient driving, or low speed manoeuvring, reduced vehicle insurance claims. Further work is necessary to verify the safety value of manager training including gathering detailed information on interactions between managers and drivers.