Francisco Alonso

• PhD
• Managing Director at University of Valencia

While young cyclists remain overrepresented in cycling crash figures, effective actions to mitigate their risks remain understudied and underapplied, especially in regions with low cycling tradition and weak or fragmented governance, as is the case in most Hispanic countries. One key emerging issue is the potential influence of personality traits s...

The transition towards a sustainable mobility model encourages an increase in the use of soft modes of transport, and thus an increase in the number of vulnerable road users, especially in urban areas. In Spain, this group of users, comprising pedestrians, cyclists, users of personal mobility vehicles and motorcyclists, accounted for 62,258 victims...

Introduction: Public health campaigns have begun to employ various emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data for their design, implementation, and evaluation. These technologies offer new opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of health communication strategies by enabling more precise audience segmentation, person...

Regulations, the sanctioning system, and police supervision are among the main components for increasing road safety. In fact, most accidents are caused by non-compliance with the rules, and it is precisely the elimination and deterrence of these offending behaviors that must be based on an effective sanctioning system supported by the correspondin...

We recommend acknowledging the importance of evaluation as an undisputable need in developing sustainable mobility policies. To achieve this policy recommendation, we propose to take into account the following: (1) Evaluations must be comprehensive, multidisciplinary, continuous, summative, rigorous, and economically feasible, led by those responsi...

Aggressiveness is a concerning issue due to its contribution to road crashes. This study aims to provide an overview on how Spanish drivers perceive aggressive driving, analyzing how this perception is linked to sociodemographic features. Thus, a cross-sectional study was designed, where 1,079 Spanish drivers took part in a telephone survey on aggr...

Commuting road accidents have a direct impact on workers as well as companies. Therefore, analyzing the characteristics of commuting to and from work and workers’ perceptions of their potential risk is necessary. This study analyzes these factors in a sample of employees in a large Spanish company. A questionnaire was distributed to a total of 665...

Especially in low and middle-income countries, key constraints such as dense traffic flows, jams, and pollution constitute frequent issues that potentially explain many negative consequences in terms of (e.g.) efficiency, sustainability, and mobility safety. In this regard, recent evidence supports the idea that fostering public transportation is c...

Traffic accidents represent a major problem worldwide. Public and private entities launch communication campaigns in order to educate the population about this problem. The aim of this study is to analyze the evolution of the presence of road safety in the Spanish media and its influence on the reduction of road accidents. A content analysis of six...

Citation: Useche, S.A.; Alonso, F.; Boyko, A.; Buyvol, P.; Makarova, I.; Parsin, G.; Faus, M. Promoting (Safe) Abstract: Background: Promoting cycling, walking and other 'active' transportation means continues to be a shared guideline in urban planning, closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Nonetheless, young...

This Data in Brief (DiB) article addresses the relationships among individuals’ transport habits, perceptions, and attitudes regarding transport-related pollution, as well as their willingness to act for environmental change. There are presented descriptive statistics, basic comparisons, and bivariate correlations among the core variables of the st...

This Data in Brief (DiB) article presents the differences in cycling behaviors related to violations, errors, and positive behaviors by region. The study data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire applied to a full sample of 7,001 participants from 19 countries, distributed over 5 continents. This paper proposes descriptive statisti...

Background Despite being neglected for several decades, and in many countries, public transport environments have transformed into a reflection of social disparities and inequalities. Among these issues, harassment–a pervasive and worldwide gendered dynamic–has been demonstrated to negatively impact women’s behavioral trends, daily opportunities, a...

Background This study aimed at comparing drivers’ and non-drivers’ results in the Adult Developmental Eye Movement with Distractors test (ADEMd) and the Useful Field of View test (UFOV). Methods One hundred and twenty Spaniards (mean age 50.90 ± 17.32 years) without eye disease voluntarily participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study. Pa...

Introduction Technological advancements have the potential to enhance people’s quality of life, but their misuse can have a detrimental impact on safety. A notable example is the escalating issue of distracted driving resulting from the use of mobile phones behind the wheel, leading to severe crashes and injuries. Despite these concerns, both drive...

Introduction While Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have become a prominent topic in road safety research, there has been relatively little discussion about their effectiveness in preventing car collisions involving specific vulnerable road users, such as cyclists. Therefore, the primary objective of this systematic literature review is to...

Although most actions aimed at promoting the use of active transport means have been con-ducted in ‘large’ cities, recent studies suggest that their cycling dynamics could hinder the ef-forts put into infrastructural, modal share, and cycling culture improvements. Aim: The present study aimed to assess the role of city sizes on riding behavioral an...

Although it may sound exaggerated at first, almost all the activities we perform, both on a daily and exceptional basis, have a series of associated risks. Some of them are more serious, common and obvious, while others materialize less frequently. Nevertheless, and often without being fully aware of it, we use risk management tools and strategies...

Given its detrimental role in sustainability and community health, air pollution constitutes a global challenge nowadays, and urban transport has been proven to be a key contributor to the problem. At a population level, and especially in Low-and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), measures for reducing contamination usually require deep behavioral ch...

Among the most generalised preventive measures against traffic crashes, advertisements and broadcast campaigns in the media have stood out over the last six decades. The core aim of this paper is to describe the evolution of the subject matter and typology of road safety-related advertisements used in Spain during 62 years (1960–2021). Thus, this p...

Although driving simulators could be commonly assumed as very useful technological resources for both novel and experienced drivers’ instruction under risk control settings, the evidence addressing their actual effectiveness seems substantially limited. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the existing original literature on driving simulators as...

Background Despite the considerable effort made during the last decades, emerging countries are still among the highest road safety concerns because they still account for most of the deaths caused by traffic crashes. Various studies suggest that one of the factors involved in this negative outcome could be road safety. However, this issue remains...

The last few years have brought about a series of substantial changes for mobility on two wheels, especially if the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is considered as a relevant fact for transportation dynamics [1,2]. Social distancing recommendations have promoted the use of individual transportation systems instead of massive transportations means....

Given different advances in applied literature, risky and positive behaviours keep gaining ground as key contributors for riding safety outcomes. In this regard, the Cycling Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ) represents one of the tools available to assess the core dimensions of cycling behaviour and their relationship with road safety outcomes from a b...

Road safety training programs are commonly used to raise awareness of risky attitudes and behaviors. The evaluation of road safety education courses aimed at children is carried out with some assiduity. However, this does not usually occur in courses aimed at young people and adults. The present systematic review aims to identify studies that evalu...

Introduction While public health campaigns disseminated through Twitter have multiple theoretical advantages over other strategies (e.g., a high potential reach and low economic cost), the effectiveness of social networks as facilitators of attitudinal and behavioral changes in the population seems to remain weakly supported. Therefore, this system...

Given different advances in applied literature, risky and positive behaviours keep gaining ground as key contributors for riding safety outcomes. In this regard, the Cycling Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ) represents one of the tools available to assess the core dimensions of cycling behaviour and their relationship with road safety outcomes from a b...

La agresividad vial es un fenómeno que afecta a los conductores de todas las ciudades, sin importar ubicación geográfica o diferencias culturales. Aproximadamente uno de cada diez conductores se caracteriza por ser fuertemente agresivo. ¿Ha visto usted a algún conductor acercar su vehículo a otro de manera agresiva o no respetar la distancia entre...

Recent studies have problematized on the lack of agreement between self-reported and proxied data in the field of road safety-related behaviors. Overall, and although these studies are still scarce, most of them suggest that the way we perceive our own road behavior is systematically different from the perspective from which we perceive others' beh...

Motion platforms have been used in simulators of all types for several decades. Since it is impossible to reproduce the accelerations of a vehicle without limitations through a physically limited system (platform), it is common to use washout filters and motion cueing algorithms (MCA) to select which accelerations are reproduced and which are not....

Road crashes remain an important public health issue. This study aimed to assess the perceived importance of four types of measures for reducing traffic crash rates. For this cross-sectional study, data were obtained from a national sample of 1,200 Spanish drivers responding to a telephone-assisted survey. The most valued types of road safety measu...

The use of non-motorized transportation and micro-mobility is increasing in many cities. Bicycle riding and e-scooter use are now more common and affordable than ever. However, users of these devices face certain key issues. These include their own risky behaviors as well as involvement in conflicts with other road users. Self-report data may not a...

Interactions between pedestrians and drivers are an important traffic safety issue. Psycho-social factors such as thoughts, perceptions and attitudes toward other people can be reliable predictors of riskier or safer behaviors among road users. The aim of this study was to assess how frequently participants perceive that drivers perform safe and ri...

Introduction E-scooters have made a place for themselves on urban roads as an affordable, easy-to-use and environmentally friendly method of transportation. However, and partly because of their road behaviors and safety outcomes, e-scooter users have started to represent a focus of attention for transport planners and policymakers. Aim The present...

Apart from constituting a topic of high relevance for transport planners and policymakers, support technologies for traffic have the potential to bring significant benefits to mobility. In addition, there are groups of “high potential” users, such as young adults, who constitute an essential part of the current market. Notwithstanding, and especial...

Objective This study investigates the combined effect of the Effort/Reward Imbalance (ERI) model of stress and work intensification within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health (general and work-related fatigue, and psychological strain) of cargo drivers, one of the most demanded workforces during the first year of this p...

Almost all the recent studies addressing road safety from the approach of human factors agree that stress is one of the most considerable (but underestimated) threats for safe driving. However, evidence on the relationship between stressful life events and driver performance remains scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to assess life stress-related...

Universities are centers of knowledge and their Campuses are like small cities, thus making them the ideal place to develop, apply and evaluate policies and tools for innovative mobility solutions that can subsequently be extended to other contexts. A review of mobility measures in different European Universities has revealed that many of them appl...

Motion platforms have been widely used in Virtual Reality (VR) systems for decades to simulate motion in virtual environments, and they have several applications in emerging fields such as driving assistance systems, vehicle automation and road risk management. Currently, the development of new VR immersive systems faces unique challenges to respon...

RSE (Road Safety Education) is well recognized as a reliable predictor of future safety and health outcomes. However, most countries have been slow to develop it, which has contributed to the sensitivity of the situation, as traffic accidents continue to be a major concern for community health. This paper aims to describe and compare key variables...

One of the challenges currently faced by emerging countries is to get their citizens to decide to use sustainable transport for their regular trips, in order to reduce the current vehicular pollution rates. The objective of this descriptive research is to examine the perceptions of Dominicans regarding the state of the country’s transport systems a...

Communication campaigns are commonly used in the traffic and road safety sector to raise public awareness of the importance of avoiding risky road user attitudes and behaviors. Surprisingly few of these communication campaigns evaluate their effectiveness in a formal and comprehensive manner. The core aim of the present systematic review is to iden...

Although traffic crashes are the eighth leading cause of death in the world, and are linked to vehicle and infrastructure-related factors, crash-related fatality rates are much higher in low- income countries. Particularly, the Dominican Republic is the country with the highest accident rate in the whole American continent. Therefore, in the past f...

Background The accumulated evidence has shown how professional drivers are, in psychosocial terms, among the most vulnerable workforces, and how their crashes (some of them preceded by stressful working conditions) constitute both an occupational and public health concern. However, there is a clear lack of validated tools for measuring stress and o...

Introduction Recent evidence consistently highlights the adverse work environment of long-haul professional drivers, whose task structure typically involves the performance of extensive shifts, driving under stressful working conditions. In this regard, job stress and fatigue – that are highly prevalent in this workforce – seem to play a crucial ro...

Introduction: Recent evidence consistently highlights the adverse work environment of long-haul professional drivers, whose task structure typically involves the performance of extensive shifts, driving under stressful working conditions. In this regard, job stress and fatigue-that are highly prevalent in this workforce-seem to play a crucial role...

Introduction Research on pedestrians’ behavior and safety in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is scarce, compared to high-income economies. This study aimed to present the validation of the Walking Behavior Questionnaire (WBQ), which has not been tested before in the Dominican Republic, and to evaluate age differences in walking-related self...

Objective Mechanical conditions of vehicles may play a determinant role in driving safety, the reason why vehicle periodical technical inspections (VTIs) are mandatory in many countries. However, the high number of drivers sanctioned for not complying with this regulation is surprisingly high, and there is not much evidence on what kind(s) of motiv...

Technological devices are becoming more and more integrated in the management and control of traffic in big cities. The population perceives the benefits provided by these systems, and, therefore, citizens usually have a favorable opinion of them. However, emerging countries, which have fewer available infrastructures, could present a certain lack...

Most countries have active road safety policies that seek the objective of reducing deaths in traffic accidents. One of the main factors in this regard is the awareness of the safety measures, one of the most important being the correct usage of the seat belt, a device that is known to save thousands of lives every year. The presented work shows a...

Recent evidence suggests that driving behavior and traffic safety outcomes of parents may be influenced by the extent to which they receive information and education on road safety, as well as the fact of driving with their children on board, which may increase their risk percep-tion. However, there are no studies specifically addressing the case o...

Objective The objective of this study was to assess and compare drivers’ and non-drivers’ outcomes in the Adult Developmental Eye Movement test (ADEM), a visual-verbal test that measures the time needed to read series of numbers in both a vertical and horizontal reading pattern. A set of driving parameters (i.e., experience, risk exposure, and day...

Cycling behavior remains a key issue for explaining several traffic causalities occurring every day. However, recent studies have shown how the assessment of the own safety-related behaviors on the road may substantially differ from how third parties assess them. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the differences between cyclists' self-rep...

The social determinants of health influence both psychosocial risks and protective factors, especially in high-demanding contexts, such as the mobility of drivers and non-drivers. Recent evidence suggests that exploring socioeconomic status (SES), health and lifestyle-related factors might contribute to a better understanding of road traffic crashe...

Los accidentes de tráfico constituyen uno de los principales problemas de salud prácticamente en la totalidad de países del mundo, con independencia de su nivel de desarrollo. En este sentido, y aunque las cifras cuantitativas y cualitativas sobre las consecuencias de la accidentalidad viaria se aportarán más adelante en la medida en que sean alecc...

Introduction As part of the transformation of urban transportation dynamics, commuter cycling has acquired a high relevance as an alternative mode of transport in different countries, and Latin America seems to be one of the main focus of this worldwide “revolution”. However, the high rates of crashes and injuries suffered by commuters have become...

Introduction: Traditionally, the scientific literature on urban and transportation dynamics addresses many topics, but the security-related outcomes of users remain a pending issue, especially in emerging countries and their cities. Nevertheless, recent evidence suggests that, especially in developing countries, security issues may influence people...

Estas memorias presentan a la ciudadanía el trabajo realizado por el INTRANT desde sus inicios, tras ser aprobada la Ley No. 63-17 de Movilidad, Transporte Terrestre, Tránsito y Seguridad Vial de la República Dominicana, hasta agosto del año 2020. El objetivo es mostrar y demostrar las actuaciones de las grandes áreas del INTRANT, como son la direc...

Introduction Although daily walking implies several potential benefits for the health and well-being of people, and, besides the raise of more “walkable” cities, it is currently being promoted as an active transportation means that is rich in benefits for its users, road risks affecting pedestrians, together with their high vulnerability to suffer...

Different empirical studies suggest that both job strain and driving styles are significant contributors to the work-related traffic crashes suffered by professional drivers. Nevertheless, the current evidence falls considerably short when explaining why driving styles may modify (or not) the relationship between occupational stressors and professi...

En el “Plan Estratégico Nacional de Seguridad Vial de Peatones para la República Dominicana 2020-2023” se plantean 17 soluciones a las problemáticas del desplazamiento seguro de peatones en nuestro país, que van desde la “Mejora y optimización de la formación vial”, “Optimización de las características y estado de los vehículos”, “Diagnóstico de la...

Not keeping an adequate safe distance is one of the elements that are directly related to traffic accidents. The main objective of this research was to identify the aspects that modulate the safe distance-accidents relation. Specifically, the frequency and reasons why drivers do not keep the safe distance, the perception of drivers regarding the pr...

Not keeping an adequate safe distance is one of the elements that are directly related to traffic accidents. The main objective of this research was to identify the aspects that modulate the safe distance-accidents relation. Specifically, the frequency and reasons why drivers do not keep the safe distance, the perception of drivers regarding the pr...

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of different environmental, mechanical and individual factors associated with fatalities and serious injuries caused by work traffic accidents among cargo and passenger transport drivers (CPTD) in Spain. For this cross-sectional study, national data on work traffic accidents collected in Spain during...

Background: Education in road safety (also known as Road Safety Education-RSE) constitutes, nowadays, an emergent approach for improving present and future road behaviors, aiming at taking action against the current, and concerning, state-of-affairs of traffic crashes, through a behavioral perspective. In the case of children, and despite their ove...

Objectives The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships among the following elements: unhealthy work indicators (job stress and emotional exhaustion at work), the decision to drive (or not), and driving crashes suffered by Spanish workers. Methods For this cross-sectional study, a full sample of 1,200 Spanish drivers (44% women and 56...

Objective This study had two objectives: first, to test the effects of sociodemographic variables, and the effects of three key road safety skills (knowledge–risk perception–attitudes) on the use of passive safety elements (PSEs) among teenagers; and second, to assess the differential impact of the study variables on PSEs use from a gender-based pe...

The Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory or MDSI constitutes, perhaps, the most relevant tool for measuring driving styles. Since its releasing in 2004, it has been applied worldwide to different samples of drivers, showing an important value and utility for road safety. However, empirical studies using the MDSI on professional drivers are scar...

Social and health problems imply an impact on society. The main objective of this study is to provide an overview of how Spanish people perceive cancer, terrorism, cardiovascular diseases, crime, AIDS, drugs, and traffic accidents, finding out whether they assess the importance of these issues in correspondence with their actual severity. The study...

This study explored the gender-based similarities and differences in road behaviors (both risky and protective) and cycling crashes among urban cyclists from different countries; and secondly, assessed several factors encouraging and discouraging cycling, and their differences between female and male bicycle riders.

Las motocicletas y los ciclomotores son un medio de transporte cada vez más utilizado en todo el mundo. Al mismo tiempo, las motocicletas son un medio de trasporte menos seguro, ya que se enfrenta a circunstancias que pueden resultar adversas, tales como el estado de la carretera y el clima. Este hecho, unido a la menor protección que ofrece a sus...

Objectives This study aimed at analyzing the cycling safety-related factors and the mental health indicators of elderly cyclists in comparison with other age groups. Methods For this cross-sectional study, we analyzed the data of 911 bicyclists from two Latin American countries that have been experiencing a substantial growth of urban cycling duri...

This study analyzes the association between trait driving anger and driving styles in a sample of Colombian professional drivers. Additionally, the internal and external validity of the Deffenbacher's Driving Anger Scale (DAS-14) was examined in the study population. The DAS-14 and the Spanish Version of the Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory...

Introduction Psychosocial work environment has been related to many negative health outcomes in different workforces. However, evidence in this regard is still limited in the case of transport workers, and most of the tools used in research, often excessively generic, do not fully consider the specific key stressors, and adverse issues present in t...

Work traffic accidents are an issue both in Spain and all over the world, and specific evidence on commuting accidents is scarce. Even though both industrial safety and welfare have been improved during the last decades, the commuting accidents rate is growing worldwide. Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine and describe the characteristic...

Driving Under the Influence (DUI), also known as driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, or impaired driving, refers to a conduct, which arise in the area of traffic, when the driver of a motor vehicle has consumed a certain amount of alcohol or drugs, including medicines. This consumption interfers and deteriorates the processes involved i...

Transportation is a necessary process that requires not only adequate means, but also individual choices. And apparently, the recent boom of alternative modes of transportation has substantially changed people's perceptions of cycling, as well as the reasons why they decide to use a bike. Nevertheless, people identify some motives that encourage th...