With this monthly newsletter we wish to draw your attention to new topics on our website. This month in the SWOV newsletter:
SWOV in the media
Publications
Fact sheets
Library
Congresses and meetings

Use of ‘black box’ data
For the first time the Public Prosecution Service has used data from an Event Data Recorder (EDR) in a passenger car. In American cars this so-called black box is compulsory. On 26 December, a 25 year-old man driving an American car killed five people. As the Rotterdam police has the instruments to retrieve the data registered in the black box, it was made clear that the man drove at a speed of 147 km/h where 30 km/h is allowed. In an article of the Dutch Associated Press SWOV gave a reaction about the use of the EDR.

Traffic offences, multiple offenders and road safety
Knowledge from existing research. Ch. Goldenbeld & D.A.M. Twisk. R-2009-7
Road safety in the Netherlands is to some extent affected by the behaviour of those who repeatedly and consistently commit traffic offences: multiple offenders. This report discusses the relation between traffic offences and crashes, the size of the group of multiple traffic offenders in the Netherlands, and their contribution to lack of road safety. The relation between the number of offences at an individual level and the crash involvement of those persons is also investigated. Finally, the possible preventive effect of a recidivism regulation is considered.

Road safety monitor 2009
Analysis of crashes, mobility, behaviour and policy in 2008. W.A.M. Weijermars, Ch. Goldenbeld & N.M. Bos. R-2009-15 Every year, SWOV carries out a study into recent road safety developments. This report discusses the developments in 2008 of the numbers of traffic fatalities and in-patients for different groups of road users, transport modes, conflict types, and location, and for combinations of these variables. Furthermore, the report looks at the death rate and the injury rate in comparison with previous years. Finally, the report discusses the measures that were taken in 2008 to improve road safety.

Update Fact sheets
Road safety effect of obligatory eye test for 45 year olds and older

New acquisitions
Every day, publications are added to the library collection, both those ordered by us and those sent to us. Every month, an overview of these is placed on our website, to be consulted. You will find the overview here.

Car telephone use and road safety : final report. An overview prepared for the European Commission. J. Breen. Brussels, Jeanne Breen Consulting, 2009, 21 p., 59 ref.
During the last 30 years, mobile telephones have become a major source of communication and an essential device for many people. A wide range of new mobile phone services, designs and new users has led to new possibilities for business communication and increased personal convenience. Since in-car telephones first appeared in the mid-1980s, the use of hand-held and, more recently, hands-free devices has rapidly increased. At the same time, a significant body of behavioural and epidemiological research, which has been subject to periodic literature review and meta-analyses, indicates the adverse consequences associated with use of a car telephone while driving, whether hand-held or hands-free. New availability of visual display information on mobile phones, new services offering broadband internet access and the increasing opportunity to use the car as a mobile office are all developments which are likely to increase further the road safety management challenges.   

Road incidents and network dynamics : effects on driving behaviour and traffic congestion.
Proefschrift Technische Universiteit Delft TUD. V.L. Knoop. Delft, The Netherlands TRAIL Research School, 2009, XXIV + 216 p., 138 ref.; TRAIL Thesis Series ; T2009/13 - ISBN 978-90-5584-124-0
Incidents cause a large part of the congestion on the road. This PhD study describes how people change their behaviour when facing an incident situation. It is found that car-following behaviour changes and drivers react slower on their predecessors. Furthermore, it is found that drivers change their route when facing unexpected delay caused by an incident. The route choice if the queue is caused by an incident is different from the situation with a similar queue which is not caused by an incident. Also the queuing patterns in the network are studied. It is found that so called “spillback” effects are important. This is a queue with cars heading to a direction with a bottleneck which blocks the cars to another direction, which do not need to pass the bottleneck. Due to these effects, it is essential to use an accurate representation of traffic when calculating the total delays of an incident. The findings of this thesis can be used for creating more robust road networks, causing less delay in case of incidents.

Section control : towards a more efficient and better accepted enforcement of speed limits? G. Simcic (ed.) Brussels, European Transport Safety Council ETSC, 2009, 4 p., 14 ref.; ETSC Speed Fact Sheet ; No. 5
Section control is a method of speed enforcement involving a series of cameras installed over a stretch of road. An image and data are recorded for each vehicle as they enter and leave two points in the system (a section of road). The data are then used to calculate the average speed of the vehicle by dividing the time taken to travel through two points by the distance between them. The present Fact sheet will present a brief review of the experience gathered from countries that have started using this technology as an addition to more traditional speed enforcement techniques.