Driving is a complex activity. A hierarchy of skills is required for safe driving like operational (basic motor, sensory or perceptual), cognitive, tactical (choice of speed and distance from the other vehicles), and strategic (planning and preparing for long trips). Operational and sometimes cognitive skills typically decline for a variety of factors like ageing, chronic diseases, medication use, fatigue or a combination of these factors. The consequences of such decline on driver fitness are crucial for road safety and some countries already have procedures in place for assessing fitness to drive, nonetheless practical implementations and the assignment of responsibilities differ from country to country.
A driver’s fitness is also greatly affected by the consumption of psychoactive substances (illegal or not), which are incontrovertibly considered one of the major factors for traffic accidents. Establishing practical, reliable, specific and accurate tools for detecting those substances is of primary importance of the law enforcement authorities across EU, especially since their impact on road traffic accidents and associated injuries is undeniably important.
With the objective to further improve road safety, properly monitoring the driver’s fitness and physical state is an ongoing challenge that requires innovative techniques which go beyond existing regulations (e.g Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 - “the 'Driving Time Regulation”- or Regulation (EU) 165/2014 on tachographs in road transport).
Scope:Develop and test in at least 3 different sites innovative technological solutions for evaluating a driver’s fitness. These should include for example:
The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 3 to 3.5 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately.
Expected Impact:Socio-economic science and humanities
Gender
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