The French National Institute for Transport and Safety Research was created by interministerial decree on 18th September 1985. The INRETS is a state-financed scientific and technological body under the dual administrative supervision of the Ministry of Research and the Ministry of Transport.
**Missions
To organize, execute and assess technological research and development concerned with the improvement of the means and systems of transport and of traffic from technical, economic and social viewpoints.
To carry out evaluative and advisory studies within these domains.
To promote the results of these research and study program, to contribute to the dissemination of scientific knowledge, and participate in training by and for transport research both in France and abroad.
**Key Figures
Staff at INRETS totals 400 : 189 researchers, 157 technicians and assistants, and 54 administrative and management personnel (2001).
Two thirds of the research have training in the physical sciences, and one third in the social sciences.
The institute’s activities involve such diverse fields as economics, sociology, psychology, physiology, ergonomics, biomechanics, acoustics, mechanics, mathematics, computer science electronics and electro-technical.
The diversity of approach used to carry out the different research programs gives a multidisciplinary characteristic to the INRETS research teams, which correspond to their methods.
