Goodyear and the London School of Economics partner on road safety research

Goodyear and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) are cooperating on road user behaviour research. The project, managed by LSE Consulting, is designed to contribute to the road safety debate in Europe with unique empirical insights.

“Current road safety research is largely focused upon how drivers use their vehicles within a physical, as opposed to 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 hasn’t been emphasised so much before”, explained Dr Chris Tennant, who is leading the research project at LSE.

“LSE’s Department of Social Psychology has produced ground-breaking research into the behaviour 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,” stated Olivier Rousseau, Goodyear vice president, consumer tyres in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Goodyear previously conducted surveys of novice drivers (2012), driving instructors (2013), and parents of novice drivers (2014) leading to the publication of a white paper ‘Driving Safety First: Improving road safety for novice drivers,’ the second edition of which was published in November 2014. The white paper has been shared with key policy-makers and road safety organizations to help support their efforts to make Europe’s roads safer.

Part of the research project with LSE is a pan-European study of driver behaviour across 15 countries, which should provide new information to feed into Goodyear’s long-supported idea of lifelong learning as a basis for improving road safety. A large amount of Goodyear’s research and policy recommendations, such as the establishment of graduated licenses, are said to have supported this philosophy.