Monitoring and feedback in driving

Improving traffic safety is a continuous challenge that requires action on many fronts. Alongside advances in infrastructure and vehicle design, drivers’ behaviour remains a crucial factor. Risky behaviours—whether due to mistakes or deliberate violations—contribute to both the occurrence and severity of crashes. One promising way to influence such behaviours is through monitoring and feedback. Recent technological developments make it possible to track how people drive using in-car sensors or smartphones. These data can reveal patterns of risk-taking or areas for improvement, which can then be translated into feedback for the driver. By confronting drivers with objective information, feedback is expected to raise awareness and help them adjust towards safer practices.Monitoring and feedback has shown positive effects in experimental settings, both in simulators and field studies, but its potential at a societal scale remains uncertain. Could it also prove effective once applied in daily traffic, beyond the lab and test setting? This PhD thesis investigates this question from two perspectives: acceptability and effectiveness. The findings show that scalability faces important challenges. Acceptability is limited because many drivers see little need for feedback, believing their behaviour already sufficient. Effectiveness is modest when feedback remains purely informative and is not paired with incentives. The conclusion: monitoring and feedback can support safer driving, but large-scale success depends on making feedback relevant, motivating, and integrated into broader cultural and systemic efforts to improve road safety.

Dissertation: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/eb37610b-c7e8-406d-86a0-a31df00335cd