1. A system for safeguarding driver attentiveness to the task of steering while operating a vehicle having a lane keeping aid system for selectively applying an overlaying steering torque to the steering system, the steering system comprising a steering wheel, a pinion and a torsion bar, the system comprising: means for measuring pinion angle and torsion bar torque when the lane keeping aid system is applying an overlaying steering torque; means for estimating driver applied torque from the measured pinion angle and torsion bar torque; means for calculating a hands-off metric based on a relation between the measured torsion bar torque and the estimated driver applied torque; means for determining hands-off based on a comparison of the calculated hands-off metric with a predefined threshold; means for evaluating hands-on between torque interventions by the lane keeping aid system; means for determining an action based on the determined hands-off and the evaluated hands-on; and means for performing the action determined.