Transport safety expert will discuss vehicle safety technology

Professor Pete Thomas, head of the Transport Safety Research Centre at Loughborough University, is the latest confirmed speaker for the 2013 National Road Safety Conference.

More than 170 people have registered to attend the conference which is being held in Harrogate, 13-14 November. Road Safety GB Yorkshire and Humberside Region is hosting the conference and the event is co-sponsored by Colas, AA DriveTech and FirstCar magazine.

In his presentation, ‘Advanced safety technologies – an opportunity for further casualty reduction?’, professor Thomas will look at some of the systems that are currently being introduced to the vehicle fleet, as well as some that are still in the pipeline. He will take a realistic look at the likely impact on casualty reduction and describe some of the factors that will introduce constraints.

Pete Thomas

is the professor of road and vehicle safety at Loughborough University and director of the Transport Safety Research Centre. The Centre has a team of over 20 people who conduct research to develop new road and vehicle safety measures and to evaluate the performance in the real-world. The team was awarded the prestigious Queens Anniversary Award in 2007 for its work. In the 2008 RAE more than 55% of its research was assessed as being world leading.

Pete is a leading figure in the development of road and vehicle safety policy resources and has led the establishment of the European Road Safety Observatory. He has advised the European Commission on its road safety policy orientations to 2020 and has co-ordinated several large research projects to gather and analyse accident and safety data which together had a value of around £20m.

 A particular emphasis of Pete’s research has been the in-depth investigation of driving behaviour and collisions for safety policy-making, his team has led the field and has directly investigated more than 20,000 collisions. The large databases it has developed are now routinely used for a wide range of research and policy-making purposes.

Most recently Pete’s team has been conducting new research into the safety behaviours of drivers and other road users. New experimental methods are being used to unobtrusively observe the actions and responses of drivers under normal driving conditions. These methods are being used to develop real-time coaching resources that drivers can use to examine their driving behaviour and to identify ways to make improvements.

Click here for more information about the conference, or contact Sally Bartrum or Nick Rawlings on 01379 650112 for more information.