Driver selection and rehabilitation by psychological methods aim to: (1) protect travellers from risks caused by dangerous drivers; (2) protect individual drivers at risk from being judged in a schematic and undifferentiated way; and (3) gradually improve the driving culture in society, by offering drivers at risk the chance to alter their attitudes and improve their skills, so as to be able to handle the challenges of modern traffic systems. As researchers, traffic psychologists have developed, tested, and evaluated new principles, methods, instruments, and media, which are likely to support the learning process effectively for all target groups in traffic. Aptitude tests and testing for selecting drivers at risk are continually being checked and improved, because they need to be reliable. For public authorities, it is important that measures for implementing the European Union guidelines for driving licences complements and does not replace the fines and penalties system. High-quality education of psychologists and service by them can be provided, only if sufficient courses occur in each European country. To improve and maintain the quality of these measures, continual quality assurance must be provided, for example by professional organisations, and good training must be guaranteed for diagnosticians and counsellors.
Samenvatting