Dick de Waard (1964) graduated in 1989 in experimental psychology at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. From 1989 onwards he has worked at the Traffic Research Centre / Centre for Environmental and Traffic Psychology of the same university. The few people left of this group were later accepted into the section Work and Experimental Psychology. One of his main research interests is the measurement of driver mental workload, the subject of his PhD thesis (1996).  

In the past he has worked on effects of traffic environment (such as road delineation and layout) on driver behaviour, on the legibility of (destination) sign posts, on the effects of police enforcement on speeding, effects and acceptance of new transport telematics, such as car phones, in-car tutoring and feedback systems (EU sponsored DETER project), on the detection of impaired driver behaviour (EU sponsored DREAM, SAVE, and AWAKE projects), on driver training (EU project TRAINER). Currently his focus is on automation, both in the traffic environment and in aviation (e.g. the HILAS project). System and driver behaviour in and acceptance of a new automated public transport vehicle, the Phileas, see also this interview together with Karel Brookhuis in Pictogram (in Dutch). Recent research focussed on adaptive automation, and mental workload during filtering into motorway traffic. See also www.trafficpsychologygroningen.info.

Dick is empolyed by the University of Groningen, Experimental Psychology, he has been a visiting scientist at the HumanFirst group of the University of Minnesota in the USA. From June 2005 - February 2008 he was part-time employed by Delft University of Technology

At present the focus of his interest is still mainly on mental workload and automation.

A selection of publications, and Download Reports 

Email: waard2@zonnet.nl

Also have a look at the Europe Chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society!  

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One of the first instrumented cars, a Volvo

The follow-up, a Renault

The first simulator, a BMW

The present simulator