Methods of Physical and Mental Testing of Vehicle Drivers and Its Role in Road Traffic Safety Improvement

Mirosław Antonowicz, Marek Zielinski

Abstract


Safety in the road traffic is largely dependent on the physical and mental condition of the driver. Current research as well as the analyses conducted on certain phenomena-psycho-physiological efficiency of drivers, their skills, the influence of extrinsic factors on drivers, the technical parameters of vehicles and finally the distracting power of the environment - all prove that it is achievable to minimize risk in the road traffic.
There are various testing techniques, some of them are directed at the driver (eye tracking, heart rate and breath gauging or neuro-imaging), other techniques test the on-board car systems and still others test the visual and radar monitoring of the environment outside the vehicle. All of these techniques, for one thing enable tracing the driver’s actions and for another, provide information about the processes which affect the driving person.
It should be noted that, owing to the above mentioned study, new knowledge is being developed. Both the research conducted with modern equipment, such as the systems of visual and radar analysis of the driver’s surrounding area, and the systems which gauge psychophysical condition of the person, even if they might not ensure our totally comprehensive grasp of the safety processes in transport, yet they provide new and valuable information which is expected to facilitate our understanding of the role and influence of psychophysical processes in a driver on safety in the road traffic. Data collected with such methods will enhance our knowledge with details that have been unknown so far. Besides, the methods will let us perceive the phenomena which may, for that matter, serve to verify current theories or even lay the foundations for totally innovative knowledge that may help to analyse the influence of the driver’s psychophysical condition on the road traffic safety. What is more, the resultant knowledge may be further employed to work out effective tools for aiding safety to different means of transport in motion. The development of tools and methods which are supposed to enhance and ensure safety in the road transport is the clue issue being tackled by both domestic institutions and the European Union. For a few years now, safety in the road traffic in developed countries has been one of the essential issues regularly discussed and studied.
The aim of this article is to present both the testing methods as well as the role of psychophysical condition of the driver on safety in the road traffic.

Keywords


safety in the road transport, the driver, techniques of psychophysical testing, simulator

Full Text:

PDF

References


Act on Road Transport, Dz. U. [Journal of Laws] from 2001, No. 125, item 874 as amended

Aksamitowska I., Role of Road Traffic Inspection in the process of increasing road traffic safety, unpublished paper, Pultusk Academy of Humanities 2013.

Bąk-Gajda D., Bąk J., Psychologia transportu i bezpieczeństwa ruchu drogowego, Difin, Warszawa 2010.

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Towards a European road safety area: road safety-oriented policy 2011-2020.

Fatalities by population. Evolution 2011-2012, Road Safety Vademecum. Road safety trends, statistic and challenges in the UE 2011-2012.

Filary S., Bezpieczeństwo w komunikacji powszechnej i transporcie, Wyższa Szkoła Bankowa, Poznań 2010.

www.osha.europa.eu/pl/sector/road_transport/index_html

www.europa.eu/index_fr.htm

Krystek R. (ed.), Zintegrowany System Bezpieczeństwa Transportu, vol. 1: Diagnoza bezpieczeństwa transportu w Polsce, Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności, Warszawa 2009.

Krystek R. (ed.), Zintegrowany System Bezpieczeństwa Transportu, vol. 3: Koncepcja Zintegrowanego Systemu Bezpieczeństwa Transportu w Polsce, Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności, Warszawa 2010.

Łuczak A., Najmiec A., Badania sprawności psychofizycznej kierowców wypadkowych i bezwypadkowych w aspekcie prewencji wypadkowej i zwiększania kultury bezpieczeństwa w transporcie drogowym, Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, Warszawa 2009.

Ministry of Health Regulation of 7 January 2004 on medical testing of drivers and applicants for the driving profession (Journal of Laws from 9 January 2004 as amended).

National Programme for Road Traffic Safety 2013-2020, KRBRD (National Council for Road Traffic Safety) 2013.

Rożnowski K., Bernat M., Preliminary research on the analysis of psychological and physiological parameters and biological signals (POIG.01.03.01-10-085/09. Integrated system for monitoring mental and physical condition of drivers with a view to minimizing risk in road traffic, WIML (Military Institute of Aviation Medicine) Warsaw 2011.

Stańczyk J., Współczesne pojmowanie bezpieczeństwa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 1996.

Starkowski D., Bieńczak K., Zwierzycki W., Domestic and international road transport. Methods of Physical and Mental Testing of Vehicle, "Logistics and Transport", 25 (2015)/1, pp. 43-56.

Strategy for Transport Development by 2020 (with the outlook for the years by 2030), Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy, Warsaw 22 January 2013.

Ucińska M., Niezgoda M., Nowe perspektywy dla psychologii transportu w diagnostyce i badaniach naukowych, "Transport Samochodowy", (2012)/3, pp. 17-32.

Ucińska M., Tokarczyk E., Psychologia transportu w ITS. Przeszłość – teraźniejszość – przyszłość, "Transport Samochodowy", (2012)/3, pp. 33-51.

Wągrowska-Koski E., Zagrożenia zdrowia kierowców pojazdów silnikowych związane ze szkodliwymi i uciążliwymi warunkami środowiska pracy, Instytut Medycyny Pracy, Łódź 2007.

White Paper – European Transport Policy for 2010 – time to decide, University of Szczecin, Szczecin 2002.

White Paper, Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system, Brussels, 28 March 2011, COM (2011) 144 final version

Wicher J., Bezpieczeństwo samochodów i ruchu drogowego, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2004.

Zieliński M., Monitoring mental and physical condition of drivers as the tool to minimize risk in road traffic, unpublished paper, Pultusk Academy of Humanities 2013.

Żukowska J., Diagnoza stanu bezpieczeństwa transportu w Polsce [in:] Krystek R. (ed.), Zintegrowany system bezpieczeństwa transportu. Synteza, Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności, Warszawa 2010, pp. 35-52.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.