-Avoiding distractions and perception errors and punishing of offenders, the keys to reducing road accident rates.

-Additionally, calls are made to control advertising and to encourage a change in the “cult of speed” culture.

Achieving a perception of safety and risk more in line with the real dangers of road traffic is vital in reducing road accident rates. To this end, prudence must be encouraged by increasing and improving preventative signposting on routes, and respect must be instilled with measures such as penalties. The first type of measures must be aimed at preventing distractions and errors of perception that lead to involuntary accidents, whilst penalties must punish voluntary, conscious infringement of the law.

These are some of the conclusions offered today at the end of the 5th International Road User Anthropology Symposium by Josep Olives, Symposium Coordinator and Chairman of the Catalan Road User Anthropology Society. The Symposium, promoted by the abertis foundation in collaboration with the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC), was held at the Palau de la Música Catalana.

At the opening of the Symposium, the Founding Rector of the UIC, Jordi Fervós, argued for the need to “place the human factor at the centre” of all actions because, in spite of the progress being made, “accidents remain one of the greatest problems of our society”. For his part, Symposium Director Josep Olives thanked the abertis foundation for its consistent support for the Road User Anthropology Symposium, which he described as “innovative”. He defined the encounter as a “multidisciplinary forum” to “encourage and stimulate road safety professionals” to debate subjects into which it is not always possible to go into detail.

Other proposals made by experts to achieve proper perception of safety and reduce accident rates include control of advertising to combat the identification of the person with the car, and a cultural change to counteract today’s “cult of speed” with “an appreciation of slowness”.

During this 5th Symposium, it was noted that today’s vehicles, due to their characteristics and increasingly comfortable design, tend to make users forget dangers and provide a false sensation of power and safety. Additionally, improvements to roads and technological vehicle equipment do not always contribute to greater safety, as they can reduce drivers’ awareness of risk and provide a false, dangerous sense of safety.

“The perception of safety as a risk factor” was one of the subjects dealt with at the Symposium, which saw the participation of Rafael Olmos, Director of the Catalan Traffic Service, Luís Montoro, Director of the University Traffic and Road Safety Institute (INTRAS) of the University of Valencia, Xavier Baulies, Under-Director-General of Technology and Information Systems of the Highway Directorate-General of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Montserrat Nebreda, Director of the Advanced Studies Institute of the UIC, Agustín Aragón, Director of the Fundación Instituto Tecnológico para la Seguridad del Automóvil (FITSA, the Technological Institute for Car Safety Foundation), Pere Sauret, Research Coordinator at the Fundació RACC, Josep Marsellès, Technician at the Catalan Traffic Service and Francesc Robusté, Director of the abertis chair and of the Higher Technical School for Civil Engineers of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).

Study of the human factor in driving

This is the fifth International Road User Anthropology Symposium, organised by the abertis foundation. This discipline studies road use, focusing on the human factor as the key to driving safety.

The abertis foundation is dedicated to encouraging and disseminating research into road safety and the impact of large-scale infrastructure on the territory, especially on the environment, the economy and demographics. The Road Safety Symposia form part of its Road Safety Programme, which has four main action areas: education in schools, the promotion of studies into road safety, the organisation of technical workshops and divulgation through the production of publications and other material.