About the study

The Australian Naturalistic Driving Study (ANDS) aims to understand what people do when driving their cars in normal and safety-critical situations. Outcomes from this study will be used to derive answers to some important road safety-related research questions that can only be answered using this innovative research method. Answers to these questions will be used to develop new road safety programs, policies and products that are expected to save many lives and prevent many serious injuries.

In this study, 360 volunteer drivers (180 from New South Wales and 180 from Victoria) will have their private vehicle equipped with a data collection system for 4 months. The system will silently record a participant’s driving behaviour (e.g. where they are looking), the behaviour of their vehicle (e.g. speed, lane position) and the behaviour of other road users with whom they interact (e.g. other drivers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians) in normal and safety-critical situations. Each data collection system will incorporate multiple sensors (video cameras, a still camera, GPS, radar, accelerometers, etc.) to provide a complete picture of driver, vehicle and road user behaviour in all driving situations.