Abstract

TORTOSA, F.; MONTORO, L.; ROCA, J.  and  CIVERA, C.. The Assessment of Drivers Centres twenty years later. Psychosocial Intervention [online]. 2008, vol.17, n.1, pp.7-22. ISSN 2173-4712.

It is appropriate to talk about a Spanish tradition in the application of psychology to traffic accidents prevention, dating back to the 1920s. It was the first professional area of psychological intervention to be legally regulated in Spain, even before the formal existence of an epistemic practice in psychology. From the 1930s on, without any interruption, there has been a prevailing preventive model, in spite of the different political regimes that have governed in Spain. First the psychotechnicians in public centres assessing professional drivers, and later the psychologists in private centres with all drivers have been the protagonists in the story, the connecting thread being what has been called the Spanish Model of drivers assessment. We can establish various different steps in the development of the Spanish Model in Psychological Assessment of Drivers, in a big part coincident with the evolution of the Psychological Science and the Spanish psychology. The current "Reglamento General de Conductores", who regulate driving licence, required from all of candidates to obtain/renewal driving licence submitted to physical and psychological examination in private centres to obtain driving licence. Also, this examination is required to those drivers who have lost their licence as a consequence of the penalty point system and are trying to recover it. The "Reglamento General de Conductores" maintained psychological test and a preventive pattern, legalized at 1934. We offered an empirical analysis of its activity and the validity of the professional intervention in its different dimensions. The selection of drivers has played a key role in the building of Modern professional Spanish psychology, and is today the oldest living representative role in the field.

Keywords : Drivers selection; Professional role; Psychotechnics; Social representation; Traffic accident prevention.

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