Call for young drivers to steer road safety plans with new research project

Young people are being put in the driving seat to help improve road safety in Greater Manchester as part of a new academic research project.

Volunteers are being sought for Project TED (Technology-Enhanced Driving), a three-month study using two different types of technology to observe and record the driving behaviour of young drivers on the region’s roads.

The project aims to investigate whether the presence of monitoring and driving information technology affects driver perceptions and behaviour over time.

The data collected includes acceleration, braking, cornering and speed, which will be used to identify possible road safety risks and repeated patterns of behaviour.

This will help TfGM’s Innovation team and Greater Manchester Joint Road Safety Group to develop future road safety initiatives and driver training plans.

The Group is responsible for carrying out activities and implementing policies for strategic road safety in Greater Manchester set out by the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership.

The two types of technology that will be used in Project TED are:

• Satsafe Connect GEOBLOC Telematics device – A smart, multi-sensing ‘black box’ which plugs into a car’s on-board diagnostics port to collect driving data and provide feedback on driving style via an app or a website.
• Infinity Driver iPhone app – An app that requires the driver’s phone to be mounted on the windscreen, like a dashboard camera. Once it’s set up, the app can give the driver useful advice and information on driving style.

Volunteers must be aged between 17 and 24 and have a full UK driving licence, received within the last six months. Anyone interested can find out more and sign up to take part in the study at the Project TED website – www.tfgm.com/ted

TfGM Highways Director, Andy Everest, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for young drivers to make a big contribution to reduce the number of casualties on the region’s roads in the future.

“The information that TED aims to collect is vital to help to make Greater Manchester’s roads safer for everyone.”

The study is being conducted by the University of Sunderland. Everyone who completes the trial will receive a £20 high street shopping voucher and will be automatically entered into a draw for the chance to win an advanced driving and riding course, as well as the opportunity to win £1,000 towards car insurance for a year from Mustard.co.uk.