Prof. Nicholas Ward of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Montana State University (MSU) has been selected as Guest Editor for a special edition of the Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior (TRF) journal. The issue will be dedicated to the importance of traffic safety culture and will focus on transforming the social processes that influence behavioral choice to achieve sustainable improvements in traffic safety. Steve Albert, Director of WTI, commented on the significance of the issue. “The importance of this type of research is that it has tremendous potential to save millions of lives over the next decade.”
Prof. Ward is a senior research scientist collaborating with the Western Transportation Institute at MSU. He has 15 years of experience in human factors research, focusing on driver behavior research and human factors design with Intelligent Transportation Systems through the use of immersive driving simulation. He has directed driving simulation programs at three other universities, and is the lead for the human factors consortium at MSU.
At WTI, Prof. Ward conducts research for the Center for Health and Safety Culture. The Center is comprised of an inter-disciplinary team of researchers and practitioners from across North America dedicated to using science to address social issues. The mission of the Center is to improve health and safety and increase livability through cultural transformation (https://www.westerntransportationinstitute.org/centers/culture).
The special edition is seeking to obtain a broad spectrum of submissions from different international and disciplinary perspectives that consider traffic safety culture along the entire social ecology. Interested authors must first submit abstracts of their proposed submissions for consideration by November 1, 2012. Contact Prof. Ward (nward@ie.montana.edu) for complete submission process information.
The Western Transportation Institute is the nation’s largest transportation institute focusing on rural transportation issues, with over 85 staff members and researchers with experience in 40 states and 16 countries. The Institute was established in 1994 by the State Departments of Transportation of Montana and California, in cooperation with Montana State University, to serve as a national center to address rural transportation challenges.