Video: Why drivers speed

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Centre for Decision Research

Dr Gabriella Eriksson is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow in the Centre for Decision Research (CDR). Gabriella’s research focuses on exploring judgmental biases in driver decision making, aiming to predict choices and to find means to aid drivers in making more accurate judgements. This research is part of a two year project – Applying risk communication strategies to reduce speeding-related risks - funded by an EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (agreement no: 706553).

Dr Gabriella Eriksson

Road accidents are in the top three causes of death and hospitalisation in the EU, with the overall cost of road accidents at approximately €180 billion, twice that of the annual EU budget. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), reducing driving speed is crucial in leading to fewer and less severe road accidents.

This is a collaborative project, working closely with the automobile industry, policy makers and researchers world-wide, with data being collected from the UK and Sweden. Here at the University of Leeds, interdisciplinary research between Leeds University Business School and the Institute for Transport Studies is utilising the state-of-the-art Driving Simulator.

The project has three main aims:

  1. Identify what leads drivers to misunderstand the risks and benefits of speeding
  2. Understand how common such misunderstandings are among drivers
  3. Design and test tools to address driver misunderstandings and their decisions on speeding

In this video, Gabriella describes why this research is so important and details how the research is being conducted.

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