This month in the SWOV newsletter:
SWOV in the Dutch media
Publications
Fact sheets updates
Library
Knowledge base
Congresses and meetings

Delivery vans
In the Dutch weekly magazine Elsevier of 14 August SWOV researcher Chris Schoon is quoted in an article about the traffic behaviour of delivery van drivers. This year SWOV started an in-depth study of crashes involving delivery vans.

Road works
On 30 July, The Dutch national paper Trouw published two articles about road safety at road works. SWOV researcher Wendy Weijermars provided the background information for these articles. The national paper NRCNext of 16 August quotes Wendy Weijermars from a report about road safety at road works in an article about the discomfort for drivers during the construction of a peak hour lane at the A12 motorway this summer.

Hazards of mobile phone use while driving
On 18 August the Dutch national paper De Telegraaf published an article about the dangers of using a mobile phone while driving. In response to this article researcher Willem Vlakveld explained the risks of mobile telephone conversations and text messaging while driving in the television news programmes NOS Journaal and RTL Nieuws.

Polish drivers
On 26 July, the Associated Press Services GPD published an article about Polish drivers who are supposed to frequently be involved in alcohol-related crashes. The article was published by different regional papers and the topic was picked up by the national press, for example De Volkskrant and Parool. Some of the articles mention a SWOV study. This is a misconception, SWOV never carried out a study into such an issue. The figures that were quoted are figures from the Dutch ministry of Transport; the SWOV website also makes these figures available to the public.

Fatigue and holiday
On 9 July, the Associated Press Services GPD (press service for regional papers) published an article about driving to one's holiday destination during night time and for the article made use of  SWOV fact sheet Fatigue in traffic, causes and effects. The article was placed by several newspapers. On 20 July, the Dutch national daily paper De Telegraaf paid attention to the influence of heat on road safety. They also used information from SWOV research.

Prologue
On Saturday 3 July, SWOV researchers Nicole van Nes and Michiel Christoph contributed to the RTL News on television in an item about "Naturalistic Driving". Together with TNO, SWOV carried out a study in which, for a period of two months, eight subjects were observed inside and outside their cars with the use of all types of equipment. The study was part of the EU project Prologue and is intended to provide insight in the possibilities for large-scale Naturalistic Driving research in Europe.

Integral road safety policy: what, in fact, is it?
A study into integral sector policy and integral facet policy. M.J.A. Doumen, C.C. Schoon & L.T. Aarts. R-2010-11. This report relates of a study into the meaning and scope of the concept ‘integral policy’ within the world of road safety. It distinguishes between integral policy within the road safety sector (integral sector policy) and policy in other areas of which road safety is a facet (integral facet policy). Different examples and possibilities for integral policy are presented

Research Activities issue 44
Mid-August the most recent Research Activities was published. It contains articles on, among others, the road safety effects of Intelligent Transport ssystems, the relation between congestion and road safety and the development of the number of road fatalities in the Netherlands.
 

Motorcycle and moped helmets
Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA)
International comparability of road safety data
Recognizable road design
Background of the five Sustainable Safety principles
Young novice drivers
Safe road shoulders
Sustainable Safety: principles, misconceptions, and relations with other visions
Seat belt reminders
Lorries and vans
Hazard perception in traffic
Training hazard perception
Accompanied driving
Cars submerged in water
Seat belts and child restraint seats
The elderly in Traffic

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.

Toward zero deaths: maintaining a safer roadway workshop. M. Marti & R. Kuehl. -  Paul, Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Research Services Section, 2010, 20 p.
The Local Road Research Board has developed a workshop on “Maintaining a Safer Roadway” that provides education to maintenance staff on how they can make our roads safer. This workshop addresses safety topics such as: obstructions in roadway, shoulder drop-off, signs and pavement markings and work zone safety.
 
The Power Model of the relationship between speed and road safety: update and new analyses.
R. Elvik. - Oslo, Institute of Transport Economics TØI, 2009, VI + 64 p.
The report contains an update and new analyses of the Power Model of the relationship between (changes in) speed and (changes in) road safety. The updated analysis is based on 115 studies containing a total of 526 estimates. The Power Model provides a good description of the relationship between speed and road safety.
 
The road safety consequences of changing travel modes.
P. Cairney. - Sydney, NSW, AUSTROADS, 2010, VI + 68 p.
The objective of the project was to provide policy makers with information about the likely effects of changes in travel mode on road casualties. Travel estimates from an earlier travel survey were updated by applying current population and vehicle use. Scenarios were developed to illustrate the consequences of modal shift on fatalities and serious injuries.

New data
In the Knowledge base some tables have been supplemented with new data and two new tables have been added:
 
Population data has been supplemented with data of 2010 (reference date 1 January)
Population by age, gender and region. Source: Statistics Netherlands CBS

Motor vehicle fleet data has been supplemented with the 2010 data (reference date 1 January). Data on (light) mopeds have become available from 2007.
Fleet data by region. Source: Statistics Netherlands CBS (Vehicle Technology and Information Centre RDW)

A new table has been added with the numbers of vehicles by construction year and weight (from reference date 1-1-2000; for passenger cars the weight has been supplemented with data from 1986 based on the administrative fleet).
Fleet data by year of construction and weight. Source: Statistics Netherlands CBS ( Vehicle Technology and Information Centre (RDW)

Causes of death has been supplemented with the data of 2009.
Causes of death. Source: Statistics Netherlands CBS

Driving under the influence of alcohol in weekend nights. This is a new table containing the data of this study for the period 1991-2008.
Driving under the influence by BAC category, region, age and gender. Source: SWOV/DVS

Note:
It is only permitted to use data from these tables when you refer to the original source. The tables often contain rough, uninterpreted data. The interpretation must therefore be carried out by the user. Help is available in the form of a tutorial and descriptions of the data sources.
Results of SWOV research can be found under Knowledge base, Fact sheets or (Recent) publication