Traffic research gives rise to many types of ethical issues. In this paper we focus on ethical issues that arise when human beings are directly affected in the performance of research, by comparing traffic research to the ethical requirements imposed on biomedical research. After introducing the basic ethical requirements on biomedical research, each of the major requirements is discussed in relation to traffic research. We identify the main areas where biomedical research and traffic research differ, and where the ethical requirements from the former cannot easily be transferred to the latter. Finally, we argue that there is a need for systematic studies of the ethics of traffic research and point to some of the issues that need to be addressed (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E212343.
Abstract