Goodyear, London School of Economics to study road users' behaviour

Tyre manufacturer Goodyear and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) are coming together for an innovative road safety and research project that will study the behavior of road users across Europe.

This project is managed by LSE Consulting and will identify various ways in which people respond while interacting with the other road users. This road safety project has been divided into two parts and the information gained up until now comes from the first stage of the research. The research made use of focus groups while also conducting in-depth interviews to gain insight about how drivers influence each other's behavior on the road.

Dr Cris Tennant, Project Leader at LSE said, "Current road safety research is largely focused upon how drivers use their vehicles within a physical, as opposed to a social, environment. With our new research project, we want to analyse drivers’ interactions with and their attitudes towards other drivers and their effect on risky driving. Our team of researchers at LSE’s Department of Social Psychology is excited about the opportunity to use the latest research techniques in social psychology to approach road safety from an angle that has not been emphasized on so much before."

Olivier Rousseau, Goodyear's Vice President, Consumer Tires in Europe, Middle East and Africa said, "LSE’s Department of Social Psychology has produced ground-breaking research into the behavior of individuals in social settings for 50 years. We are thrilled that we are able to work with one of the world’s leading research authorities on a study that has the potential to yield valuable insights and information into the road safety debate."

The second part of this road safety project will take insights from the study that will be conducted in 15 European countries. The final report is expected to be released in October.