"The number of road fatalities in Member States is decreasing too slowly to meet the EU-targets. A new generation of measures is needed, underpinned by a new generation of research methods. Recent technology developments allow for this: naturalistic observations. This means that road user behaviour is observed unobtrusively in a natural setting for a longer period of time. This technique allows for analysing the interrelationship between road user, vehicle, road and other traffic in normal situations, in conflict situations and in actual collisions. Results will lead to a better understanding of road safety and help to realise an intrinsically safe road transport system, including in-car technology, self-explaining roads, driver training, etc.The main objective of PROLOGUE is to prove the feasibility and usefulness of a large-scale European naturalistic observation study. The project aims at road safety researchers and other stakeholders including car industry, insurance companies, driver training and certification organisations, road authorities, and governments. Whereas road safety is the main motive, the project will also look at the relevance for environmental issues, e.g. CO2 emissions, and traffic management.Based on inventory studies, a series of small-scale field trials, and close involvement of user groups and stakeholders, PROLOGUE will result in recommendations and an outline for a large-scale naturalistic study, dealing with research questions, methodology and technology for data collection, data storage, data reduction, data mining and data analysis. Communication and dissemination to all potential stakeholders are vital to gain their support for and involvement in a large-scale European study.The PROLOGUE consortium consists of 9 partners institutes, is well spread over Europe and includes Israel, has a wide experience on all aspects relevant for naturalistic observations, and a large international network of road safety and transport experts."