Introduction First aid is a factor that reduces damage to health and loss of life in traffic accidents. It is therefore necessary to make even the lay population ready to give at least basic first aid. Czech driving schools offer only 4-h first-aid trainings that do not provide the appropriate level of competencies. Our team has designed a new conception of a 16-h experience-based first-aid course and compared its efficacy with the standard 4-h training. Methods Thirty participants were randomly divided into two groups of 15 participants each. The first group went through the standard training; the second group went through the new experience-based training. Three levels of competencies were tested: 1. Knowledge; 2. Skills; 3. Performance in a simulated situation. The competencies were evaluated by a trained observer.Results A pilot test showed a remarkable difference in knowledge and skills, as well as the competency to act in a simulated situation between the group of people that had gone through the experience-based training and those that had gone through the standard first-aid course. Conclusions Experience-based first-aid training, focused on knowledge and skills, as well as the psychological set-up, is an effective part of a driver's education that can help to reduce the numbers of fatalities and serious damage to health caused by traffic accidents. It is an important factor of traffic safetyuseful for all drivers -and should become an integral part of all driving (improvement) courses. Further research is still necessary.

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An alarming number of traffic-related deaths occur each year on European roads alone. Figures reveal that the vast majority of road-traffic accidents are caused by drivers themselves, and so further improvements in road safety require developments in driver training and rehabilitation. This study evaluated a novel approach to driver rehabilitation-specifically, empathy induction as a means of changing attitudes towards risky driving. To assess the effectiveness of this method, the present study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain function before and after a short program of empathy induction in 27 drivers whose licenses had been revoked after serious traffic offences (rehabilitated drivers [RDs]). In an extension of our previous research, we first assessed whether neural responses to empathy-eliciting social stimuli changed in these RDs. In order to isolate the neurophysiological effects of empathy induction from any other potential influences, we compared these RDs to a sample of 27 age-, handedness-and driving experience-matched control drivers (CDs) who had no exposure to the program. We then performed dual-fMRI "hyperscanning" to evaluate whether empathy induction changed brain responses during real-world social interactions among drivers; namely, during cooperative and/or competitive exchanges. Our data reveal that RDs exhibited weaker brain responses to socio-emotional stimuli compared with CDs prior to the program, but this difference was reversed after empathy induction. Moreover, we observed differences between pre-and post-program assessments in patterns of brain responses in RDs elicited during competitive social exchanges, which we interpret to reflect a change in their proclivity to react to the perceived wrongdoing of other road users. Together, these findings suggest that empathy induction is an effective form of driver rehabilitation, and the utility of neuroscientific techniques for evaluating and improving rehabilitation programs.

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