There have been many reports of motorists using the lack of traffic on the roads during the Covid19 lockdown to flout the speed limits and now with more traffic back on the roads there is a danger that some may continue to drive at excessive speeds even after things are back to ‘normal’.
Behavioural Science in transportation (understanding the behaviour and motivations of transport users such as motorists and rail commuters etc) is a fascinating subject which plays a big part in the engineering and design of roads and their ‘furniture’ in an attempt to gently persuade drivers to modify their driving behaviour to something more appropriate.
There are many such psychological tactics in place to combat speeding but could we be doing more? What other engineering solutions could be implemented to stop excessive speeding? How do different countries tackle speeding on their roads? What could we learn from them?
A good few years ago my (French) insurance company offered my wife and me a morning's driving lesson.
Essentially two exercises.
One was emergency stopping on a wet road without and with ABS. With ABS we also had to use an coned "slip road". Without ABS it was a straight road and we just blew the cones away.
Second was figures of eight on a wet road. The turns were so tight that one lady stopped her car and vomited.
Afterwards, in the "wash-up" we were told that what we had done was a basic requirement to get a drivers licence in Sweden.
This training is available throughout France, normally it's your employer that pays as it goes on a mandatory training budget. Haven't ever seen it in UK though.
A good few years ago my (French) insurance company offered my wife and me a morning's driving lesson.
Essentially two exercises.
One was emergency stopping on a wet road without and with ABS. With ABS we also had to use an coned "slip road". Without ABS it was a straight road and we just blew the cones away.
Second was figures of eight on a wet road. The turns were so tight that one lady stopped her car and vomited.
Afterwards, in the "wash-up" we were told that what we had done was a basic requirement to get a drivers licence in Sweden.
This training is available throughout France, normally it's your employer that pays as it goes on a mandatory training budget. Haven't ever seen it in UK though.
