Cognitive psychology in traffic safety

Improving traffic safety requires a better knowledge of cognitive Science, especially of the cognitive Ergonomics of road infrastructure and the vehicle–human interface. Driving is a complex task that involves different cognitive modules that have to coordinate simultaneously. Perception, Language, Memory and Mental Representation, Learning, Emotion and Motivation, Attention, Executive Functions, Thinking and Reasoning or Motor Programming should be better understood in order to adapt traffic infrastructure and interfaces to the human information processing. In this work, we review the importance of these cognitive modes in traffic safety. A holistic exam of all cognitive processes related to driving and road safety is recommended to be taken by all governments and in all countries. In this sense, systematic research in drivers’ evaluation and its link to automobile accidents should be implemented. Driver assistance systems can assist to drivers but they cannot substitute the human processing.