This chapter about transport psychology in Europe is not a directory of 70 years of research work in European countries, it is a general overview, an attempt of empirical classification of chronological tendencies and a preparation for a future field of research. Three stages of the development of transport psychology from the beginning of the century (the `psychometrics' stage) to the present day (the `technical attendance') are considered in their main trends as also the areas of psychology which are applied in transport psychology in each country, according to the information collected (for a history of psychology applied to transport on a European scale, see Klebelsberg, 1982; Tortosa, Montoro & Carbonell, 1989; Echteroff, 1991; Blasco, 1994). The development of transport psychology is deeply associated with the development of transport itself, with public safety policies and with the preventive and technical measures taken by transport operators and the car industry. Transport psychology is closely connected to the development of safety, first, and still foremost, the safety of professional drivers and then that of all categories of transport users. The main emphasis of this chapter is on the psychology of car drivers.
Samenvatting