ABSTRACT
By providing drivers with new types of in-car information, modern information technology can make traffic more efficient and rational. One risk associated with this possibility is that drivers may be distracted by the increased amount of new information. New information may, in the worst case, come from different uncoordinated systems. This internal distraction may increase the risk of an accident. To minimize that risk, different information technology devices should be adapted to drivers’ needs for information, and to drivers’ information processing abilities, not only to what is possible from a technological point of view. To simply let the market decide what are, and are not, safe products can be seriously questioned. If the market possesses this ability, then it is hard to understand the existence of dangerous products today. Furthermore, this belief assumes a high degree of rationality among drivers. Given the finding that most drivers consider themselves to be more competent that the average driver (Svenson, 1981), this high degree of rationality can be questioned. This overestimation of driving ability may, in the worst case, increase the number of accidents for some drivers. Looking at other safety measures we can also note that the safety belt was not generally accepted by the driving population in Sweden, despite its documented safety effects. Also, as pointed out by Rumar (1988), most drivers do not experience the risks as they can be seen in accident statistics. On the individual level the experience of risk is normally very low. The average driver can drive many years without being injured in an accident. On an aggregated National or European level, on the other hand, the number of killed and injured in traffic gives quite another impression. This difference in available information may, according to Rumar, explain the less than rational behaviour of individual car drivers.
