Driving is a highly complex task requiring multiple cognitive processes that can be adversely affected post-stroke. It is unclear how much ability post-stroke adults have to self-evaluate their driving performance. Furthermore, the impact of cognitive decline on this evaluation has not been previously investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the perceived level of task demand involved in driving tasks, and to examine differences between perceived and observed driving performance in post-stroke drivers in comparison to a control group. A further aim of the research was to investigate the influence of cognition on self-rated driving performance. A total of 78 participants (35 post-stroke and 43 controls) were assessed using a series of cognitive tasks and were observed whilst driving. Participants were asked to rate their own driving performance and the task demand involved while driving using the NASA Task Load Index. Between group analyses were conducted to determine differences in the level of self-rated performance and task demand. Further analyses were conducted to investigate whether cognition accounted for differences in task demand or self-rated performance. Overall, the results suggested that the post-stroke drivers exhibited deficits in cognition, but they did not report increased levels of task demand when driving. Post-stroke adults also rated themselves more conservatively than the controls for on-road performance, which was associated with their reduced propensity for risk. The study suggests that cognitive deficits may influence post-stroke drivers to amend their driving behaviour, in order to bring the task demand within a manageable level. Understanding the mechanisms involved in self-rated performance and estimations of task demand can help promote accurate self-regulation practices in post-stroke drivers. Furthermore, measuring calibration may assist practitioners with assessing fitness-to-drive, as well as with tailoring driving rehabilitation. © 2018.

 Background:  Current methods of determining licence retainment or cancellation is through on-road driving tests. Previous research has shown that occupational therapists frequently assess drivers' visual attention while sitting in the back seat on the opposite side of the driver. Since the eyes of the driver are not always visible, assessment by eye contact becomes problematic. Such procedural drawbacks may challenge validity and reliability of the visual attention assessments. In terms of correctly classified attention, the aim of the study was to establish the accuracy and the inter-rater reliability of driving assessments of visual attention from the back seat. Furthermore, by establishing eye contact between the assessor and the driver through an additional mirror on the wind screen, the present study aimed to establish how much such an intervention would enhance the accuracy of the visual attention assessment.

 Methods:  Two drivers with Parkinson's disease (PD) and six control drivers drove a fixed route in a driving simulator while wearing a head mounted eye tracker. The eye tracker data showed where the foveal visual attention actually was directed. These data were time stamped and compared with the simultaneous manual scoring of the visual attention of the drivers. In four of the drivers, one with Parkinson's disease, a mirror on the windscreen was set up to arrange for eye contact between the driver and the assessor. Inter-rater reliability was performed with one of the Parkinson drivers driving, but without the mirror.

 Results:  Without mirror, the overall accuracy was 56% when assessing the three control drivers and with mirror 83%. However, for the PD driver without mirror the accuracy was 94%, whereas for the PD driver with a mirror the accuracy was 90%. With respect to the inter-rater reliability, a 73% agreement was found.

 Conclusion:  If the final outcome of a driving assessment is dependent on the subcategory of a protocol assessing visual attention, we suggest the use of an additional mirror to establish eye contact between the assessor and the driver. The clinicians' observations on-road should not be a standalone assessment in driving assessments. Instead, eye trackers should be employed for further analyses and correlation in cases where there is doubt about a driver's attention.

Prometna sigurnost djece i omladine s funkcijskim preprekama je kompleksno pitanje. Radi se o medicinskim, tehničkim, ergonomskim, pravnim, organizacijskim i psihološkim pogledima. Mnoga tijela vlasti i instance trebaju surađivati. Podjela odgovornosti između tih raznih instanca je komplicirana. Tijekom mnogo godina su roditelji tražili jednostavan i lako shvatljiv priručnik koji opisuje ta pitanja u perspektivi djece i obitelji. To je razlog zbog kojeg smo sastavili ovaj priručnik.

A simulator study was conducted to investigate the implementation of a new law which prescribes a speed limit of 30 km/h when passing buses equipped with a 30-sign and flashing lights. It was shown that the drivers follow the rule better when they pass a bus on their own side than when the bus was standing on the opposite side of the road. The slowest mean speeds were found when passing a bus on a road with a speed limit of 70 km/h. The highest speed reduction, however, was found when the posted speed limit was 90 km/h. A bus without signage did not induce the same speed reduction as a bus with signage, which means that the drivers were aware of the meaning of the signage. Driving behaviour showed that the flashing lights are of importance, because the drivers in the study started braking before the 30-sign was readable.

School transportation should be safe, secure and accessible for all children entitled to such transportation, regardless of any disability. On a daily basis, 440,000 children utilise school transportation, several thousands of them having some sort of disability. Laws, rules and regulations concerning school transportation do not take the children's perspective into account. Moreover, they do not explicitly define where and when a school transport actually starts and ends. For these reasons, more knowledge was needed in order to fully understand why school transportation incidents take place. The aim of the project was thus to describe and understand children's (with and without disabilities) thoughts and experiences concerning safety and security in school transportation, from a "door-to-door" perspective. The number of individuals affected by school transportation incidents is, luckily, limited in relative terms, and quantitative methods do not fully catch the reasons behind children's involvement in these incidents. Instead, qualitative approaches have been applied, gaining a rich and deeper insight into the problems studied. In order to get as broad and full picture as possible, the project was divided into four subprojects: 1. Focus groups with children, drivers, staff and parents. 2. Interviews with children suffering from neuropsychiatric disabilities. 3. Interviews with children involved in school transportation incidents. 4. Field observations and interviews with children who are in extensive need for technical aids.

Road traffic crashes are identified as a world wide public health problem. Prognoses by WHO suggest these crashes to constitute the third most common reason for fatalities and disabilities in 2020. However, the crash risk varies from country to country. Previous research concerning foreign born within the Swedish road transport system shows an overrepresentation of crash involvement for this group. In order to identify the nature of the problem and to be able to compare crash involvement among foreign born with native born, the aim of the study was to cluster countries world wide into road user population zones, depending on Gross National Income (GNI), motorization, the traffic safety situation and geographical position for each country. Based on the eight identified clustered zones, comparisons of the zones and possible correlations between the different parameters were made, using Sweden (native born) as reference country. Data from several registers showed that an increase in GNI correlated with more cars and fewer traffic fatalities. For a number of zones, nearly all of them less wealthy, an increase in GNI correlated with more cars, and the more cars, the lower the number of killed road users per car. Furthermore, among foreign born, the average relative crash risk was 50% higher for males and about 10 % for females compared to native born in the Swedish road transport system. If the subgroup of crash involved car drivers 18 years and older was selected for analyses, data revealed that male foreign born ran double the risk of being involved in a crash, while for female foreign born the relative risk was increased by 70%.

This study aimed to test whether the present law about school transportation traffic sign leads to enhanced traffic safety, measured as adjustment of traffic behaviour from fellow road users. The fellow road users' behaviour on roads with 50 km/h and 70 km/h was compared in meetings with school buses at stand still in real traffic. Three different types of signing were tested: - without any sign, - with the school transportation traffic sign only, - with the school transportation traffic sign equipped with blinking lights. The fellow road users' behaviour was measured by their speed, lateral position and fixation patterns on the buses. In order to further explore the observed driver behaviour, self reported behaviour data and experiences from the study were gathered. The study was semi experimental and involved data from 24 randomly selected drivers. The study showed that the present school transportation traffic sign does not affect road user behaviour. Only when it is combined with blinking lights it affected the drivers' behaviour. On 70 km/h roads, the average speed decreased by approximately 9 km/h as an effect of the blinking lights. On 50 km/h roads the corresponding decrease was significantly lower and only found in the nearby areas of the busses. Lateral position was not affected by any of the school transportation traffic sign conditions. The blinking lights made the drivers visually, foveally aware and at the same time these fixations on the blinking lights did not prevent fixations on other important objects, such as the bus driver. The study recommended that future school transportation signs should have blinking lights, a finding also confirmed by the drivers' self reported acceptance for such a system. The sign should be in another format and with another type of icon than the present, which in turn requires more research.

In order to study child safety in cars, international literature was reviewed with respect to road vehicle transportation for children, with the focus being on the age up to 12 years. The review included literature in English and Swedish. Furthermore, the review was limited to focus on results from Australia, the U.K., the USA and Sweden. To ensure that all children are protected as passengers in cars, several aspects needed to be considered.

Within this study, the focus was, hence, on legal aspects and recommendations, traffic fatalities and serious injuries, the safety consequences for children due to the car development (airbags (SRS) and installation systems), use and misuse of child restraint systems (CRS) regarding medical, technical and user aspects, measurements for improvements, e.g. campaigns and, finally, children with disabilities. The review focused mainly on literature from 1990 until today. The main conclusions were that:

• Available statistics show that rearward facing CRS is a good preventive measure to take for enhancement of traffic safety.
• Impacts from the in-safety development of cars on choosing and mounting safety devices for children were found to be a crucial issue.
• Children exposed to an airbag deployment can be fatally injured, despite being seated in an approved child restraint system.
• In Sweden and the U.K. the level of child restraint usage among infants and small children was found to be at least 95% in the front seat and approximately at the same level in the rear seat. Even though the levels of usage in several countries were high, the level of misuse was alarmingly high (90%).
• The road transportation of children with disabilities was found to be complex and insufficiently described in the literature.