A research titled ‘Perception of road accident causes’ co-authored by W.Vanlaar and G.Yannis was published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention in 2006. The objective of this study was to validate this model empirically to answer three questions: How do European drivers perceive the importance of several causes of road accidents? Are there important differences in perceptions between member states? Do these perceptions reflect the real significance of road accident causes?