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Petya Ventsislavova Petrova

Petya Ventsislavova Petrova

Senior Lecturer

School of Social Sciences

Staff Group(s)
Psychology

Role

Petya is a senior lecturer in the department of Psychology at NTU and teaches across a number of Psychology modules. She is the module leader for Cognitive Psychology joint honours Psychology and Education.

Research areas

Cross-cultural compatibility of hazard perception testing

Petya carries out applied research in Transport Psychology mainly focusing on hazard perception in driving. Her research focuses on improving hazard perception/prediction skills in UK and international drivers, having undertaken research in Spain, China, Israel, Lithuania and the UK. Her vision is to encourage other Governments to follow the UK example and adopt hazard perception/prediction testing as part of their driving tests, keeping the worst drivers off the roads whilst encouraging the majority to seek training in this higher-order skill. Petya has assessed the cross-cultural compatibility of the hazard perception test in a number of countries.

In collaboration with the University of Granada (Spain), Petya has been involved in several hazard prediction-related projects, both as a co-investigator and as an international expert. These projects were funded by the Spanish department for Transport and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education. More information here: https://www.dgt.es/muevete-con-seguridad/conviertete-en-un-buen-conductor/test-de-prediccion-de-riesgos/

Petya has also been involved in research with Tsinghua University (China), funded by Santander Bank, Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania) funded by the Lithuanian Ministry of Transport, and Bar Ilan University (Israel) where she assessed the cross-cultural applicability of hazard perception testing in these countries.

She is currently collaborating with Palacky University (Czech Republic) in assessing the possibility to implement hazard perception testing as part of the official Czech driving test (funded by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic).

The link below includes a short article about my work published in the Annual Report issued by the International Commission for Driver Testing (page 17)

https://www.cieca.eu/sites/default/files/public-pages/Our-organisation/Annual-Report/CIECAAnnualReport2023_Final.pdf

E-scooter safety

Petya also conducts research in e-scooter safety. She is assessing riders' willingness to engage in risky riding across different types of scenarios in order to identify potential areas for improvement. The aim of this research is to identify the key factors that influence e-scooter riders' behaviour in order to develop effective training. For more information visit here: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/research/groups-and-centres/projects/e-scooters-the-new-kid-on-the-transport-block.-how-can-e-scooter-riders-improve-their-safety-and-avoid-collisions

Membership:

  • Transport Psychology International
  • Women in Transport
  • British Psychological Society
  • PACTS