PSITMOS Psychology of Traffic and Sustainable Mobility

The Post-Graduate Course in Psychology of Traffic and Sustainable Mobility dwells on topics such as the evaluation of road user behaviours, the psychological and emotional processes linked to risk perception, and the choice of transport mode. 

The learning modules include classroom lessons, testimonials and seminars, mostly held by external experts belonging to different sectors of psychology and other fields, such as doctors and engineers. Lessons will promote active participation. Constant interaction supports class learning and involvement on the topics treated, also through hands-on activities, with driving style detection tools and cognitive safe driving pre-requisites, emotional reaction training tools, and debates on topics such as the promotion of behavioural change and ethical AI aspects with respect to automated driving. In this way, the course will promote also cross-sectional competences, through group-class cooperation. Moreover, the final report or project work will require students to implement the knowledge acquired during the course, in a proactive project, in one of the sectors the courses focuses on.

The Post-Graduate Course in Psychology of Traffic and Sustainable Mobility is addressed to Psychology graduates with a Bachelor or Master’s Degree, and trains Traffic Psychologist professionals, as set out in the CNOP (2013; https://www.psy.it/allegati/aree-pratica-professionale/psicologo_del_traffico.pdf).

Career perspectives include collaboration and consultancy services toward:

• School institutions; 
• Companies and public administrations;
• Driving schools and automotive education centres;
• Companies providing automotive services for public transport;
• Enterprises and companies that promote road safety, and accident prevention in private mobility and in progress;
• Local Medical Commissions that ascertain the fitness to drive.

The professional competences provided help to collaborate with other professional figures to plan road safety promotion and road accident prevention interventions, assess the fitness to drive, organize campaigns and actions to manage the people’s mobility demand, training of professional and non-professional drivers, also through the ability to use psychological tools to regulate emotions, and measure driving styles and cognitive pre-requisites.

The Post-Graduate Course in Psychology of Traffic and Sustainable Mobility develops through the following learning modules: 

Module 1 – THE ROLE OF TRAFFIC PSYCHOLOGY IN SOCIETY 

• Safety and sustainable mobility: scope of intervention and perspectives
• Mobility Management regulations and instruments

Module 2 – UNDERSTANDING AND CONTROLLING EMOTIONS

• Emotional guide and control
• Psycho-physiological training for emotional control
• Anger control
• Cognitive-behavioural intervention techniques for emotional control and promotion of adaptive behaviours

Module 3 – SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY

• Psychology in the Mobility Management professional field
• Cultural and environmental transition of mobility
• The Mobility Manager as facilitator of psycho-social change in individuals and populations 
• Mobility Management: guidelines and good practices

Module 4 – AUTONOMOUS DRIVING AND TRANSPORT SYSTEMS

• Social and psychological factors implied in the transition to automated driving, also in reference to the ethical issues linked to the use of AI in automated driving
• Individual and group attitudes and behaviours toward technological systems
• Human factors in transport systems and theoretical aspects concerning vehicular flow and the impact road users’ behaviours have on them

Module 5 – SAFE DRIVING FACTORS

• Psychological constructs of the safe driving behaviour, with a focus on distractions
• Safe driving: models and methods for a psychometric assessment of attentional prerequisites
• Driver Behavior Questionnaire and Attitudes toward traffic safety surveys, as alternatives to self-reported driving behaviour measures
• Simulated drive: theoretical and practical implications in the use of driving simulators as assessment tools

Module 6 – FITNESS TO DRIVE EVALUATION

• Fitness to drive evaluation in at-risk populations: personal and cognitive variables and their mediators
• Distortive conduct within medical examiner verifications during the evaluation of the fitness to drive: tools and methods
• The Vienna Test System DRIVESC to assess driving prerequisites

Traffic Psychology is a psychological intervention area widespread in Europe, however, as highlighted in a document by the Consiglio Nazionale dell’Ordine degli Psicologi (CNOP, 2013, for further information, see: https://www.psy.it/allegati/aree-pratica-professionale/psicologo_del_traffico.pdf), not yet sufficiently developed in Italy.

Key topics are focused on the psychological processes behind road users’ behaviours,and on planning and implementing interventions to induce a safer, more sustainable road behaviour. The general purpose of the course is to help to reduce health-related risks implied in mobility behaviours and connected to the use of all transport means, without excluding pedestrians, who represent a non-negligible share of the so-called ‘vulnerable’ road users, given the high risk of fatal outcomes in case of accident. The scope concerns both road safety and sustainable mobility, aspects of great relevance for public health protection and for goals 3, 4 and 11 of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.