The history of international traffic and transport psychology: How a few created a conference, division, and journal for the many

Abstract

At the 7th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology (ICTTP), I made a comment that our special issue to come from 10 selected papers could be augmented by one more: a brief history of ICTTP, its home division (Division 13 of the International Association of Applied Psychology, or IAAP), and flagship journal (Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, or TRF). This paper is the result of that suggestion. What follows is not an empirical article that readers are accustomed to finding in TRF. It is a narrative that introduces readers to a few key individuals and moments in time that were critical in the creation of these three components of the traffic psychology discipline. The history in this paper could not be comprehensive, for as I explored the public record and spoke with or received email communications and documents from 12 individuals who were among the founders or knew critical details about their actions, I discovered there is so much more material worthy of exploration than could be addressed in this one manuscript. Alas, I am limited to introducing our historical organization only as a launching point for readers and me to have a foundation to research more. Readers will learn (and for some be reminded) of the discipline’s international organizational roots. We as a community have benefited in significant ways from these founding members. It is time to give them their due.