The significance of accepted risk and responsible action for goals and methods in psychological traffic research.

This paper discusses the roles of risk acceptance and responsible action in the psychology of road users. The concept of accepted risk is central to 'risk homeostasis theory' (RHT), and other risk models also use subjective evaluations of road users' actions. An action's degree of risk depends on the relationship between its objective risk and its subjective evaluation. Traffic participation may be viewed as a social interaction determined by a social learning process. The extension of RHT to ecological considerations extends the concept of risk from road safety to the environmental impacts of road traffic. Five conditions are formulated for a traffic participation which is oriented to a low level of accepted risk. Several new goals are stated, which are necessary conditions for a new view of accepted risk that considers both traffic accidents and other traffic-related hazards. The resulting new topics in psychological traffic research include: (1) new target groups; (2) new ways of behaviour; and (3) new criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of certain measures. Everyday experience is much more effective than safety campaigns and traffic education for modifying people's awareness and practical actions during journeys. For the covering abstract see IRRD 870346.