Rate My Professor Darren Wishart

Dr Darren Wishart is an Associate Professor in the School of Applied Psychology within Griffith Health at Griffith University and Director of the MAIC Griffith University Road Safety Research Collaboration. He earned his PhD from Queensland University of Technology in 2015 through a publication-based thesis titled 'The challenge of developing a fleet driving risk assessment tool,' and holds a Master's degree in Organisational Psychology from Griffith University. As a registered psychologist with over 20 years of experience in road safety research, Wishart previously held positions at Queensland University of Technology, including as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland. His career emphasizes translating research into practical improvements in organisational driving safety, working closely with vehicle fleet industry stakeholders, government agencies, and insurance commissions.

Wishart's research specializations include traffic psychology, work driving safety, fleet safety, driver fatigue, autonomous vehicles, driver behaviour in roadwork zones, motorcycle licensing and training, and taxi industry safety. His Google Scholar profile lists over 1,405 citations, reflecting significant academic impact. Key publications encompass 'Autonomous Vehicles' (2023, cited 29 times), 'An examination of the relationship between financial performance and safety culture in Australian aviation organisations' (2023), 'The Application of Theory of Planned Behaviours in Predicting Intentions to Speed: Roadwork Zones' (2022), 'Workplace Fatigue: The Impact of the Drive' (2021), and 'Perceptions of work-related road safety' (2008). Wishart has led funded projects such as 'Motorcycle Safety: Evaluating and enhancing Ride Motorcycle licensing and training' ($199,500 from Motor Accident Insurance Commission, 2025–2026), 'Advancing road safety: Identifying the physiological and psychological causes of fatigue in professional drivers' ($162,634 from Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications and the Arts, 2021–2023), 'Driven to distraction: How does emergency driving affect information transfer from the scene of an emergency to the emergency room?' ($10,000 from PA Research Foundation, 2023–2024), and a $114,200 Griffith University grant for simulator hardware (2021). He supervises higher degree research students, contributes to teaching in applied psychology, and leads initiatives like truck driver first-on-scene crash care training and MAIC partnerships for Queensland road safety.