LECTURE -2

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Road Traffic Crashes due to Human Factors

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Human Factors
ROAD TRAFFIC SAFETY

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 Overview
Human Factors: Overview
Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems
Driving Task
Driver Expectancy
Reducing Driver Error

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 Human Factors: Overview
Human factors is an applied, scientific discipline that tries to enhance the
relationship between devices and systems, and the people who are meant to
use them.
As a discipline, human factors approaches system design with the “user” as its
focal point.
Human factors practitioners bring expert knowledge concerning the capabilities
and limitations of human beings that are important for the design of devices
and systems of many kinds.

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 Human Factors @Transportation system
In road safety, the term human factors is typically used to describe how people
respond to the roadway environment. However, people are NOT simply users of
the transportation system
Humans also design, engineer, build and maintain the roadway environment,
the vehicles using it and the laws governing behavior of roadway users and
vehicle manufacturers
In that sense, the entire transportation system is a product of human factors.
The concept of human factors, which refers to how human behaviour affects
transportation safety, is misunderstood.

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 Human Factors @Transportation system
Human factors is the application of psychological and physiological principles to
the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems.
The goal of understanding the effects of human factors is to reduce the
probability and consequences of human error, especially the injuries and
fatalities resulting from these errors, by designing systems with respect to
human characteristics and limitations
Within the context of transportation, road users’ capabilities and limitations
are incorporated into the design, operations, and safety.

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 Human Behaviour

Motivation

Learning Emotions

Psychological
Factors

Intelligence PIEV Time

Individual
Differences
 Human Behaviour

Hearing

Judgement
Vision
Power
Physical
Factors

Reaction
Strength
Time
 Human Factors Overview
• Drivers make frequent mistakes because of physical, perceptual, and
cognitive limitations of human
• Errors of judgment concerning approaching speed, gap acceptance, curve negotiation

• In-vehicle and roadway distractions, driver inattentiveness, and fatigue

can lead to errors
• Drivers may make up for other drivers' mistakes or the environment may be forgiving if
these errors don't cause collisions.

Perceptual: relating to the ability to interpret or become aware of something through the sense
(cannot judge distances).
Cognitive: connected with the processes of understanding (learning new things, remembering)

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Pedestrian Pelican Sign

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Four groups of drivers' action faults

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 Four groups of drivers' action faults: Example
Impact of Signal Countdown Timers (SCTs) on driver behavior:
1. Lapses
◦ You are distracted from the road by SCTs and as a result, it is difficult for you to detect
whether the front vehicle has slowed down and you have to apply brakes or not
2. Errors
◦ You are distracted by seeing the SCT and do not notice the pedestrians crossing the
street
3. Unintentional violations
◦ After observing the SCT and crossing the intersection, look at your speedometer and
realize that your speed was unintentionally exceeded
4. Intentional violations
◦ Observing the last seconds of SCT cause you to overtake the front vehicle in any way
possible (Zigzag movement - unauthorized speed)

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 Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems
• NCHRP Report 600
• Purpose:
• “Provide the best fact-based
information and insight on the
characteristics of road users to
facilitate safe roadway design and
operational decisions”
• “Intended to provide human factors
principles and findings to the
highway designer and traffic
engineer”

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 Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems
• Covers human factors related to
specific elements including:
• Sight distance
• Curves and grades
• Roadside section
• Intersections and interchanges
• Work zones
• Rail-road at-grade crossings
• Urban vs. rural considerations
• Signage, pavement markings and
lighting
• Speed perception/choice/control

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Identify the Human Factors Issues
Identify the Human Factors Issues
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 Human Factors Guidelines
• Uses of the HFG:
• Enhance initial roadway planning
and design activities
• Conduct diagnostic assessments of
safety concerns & incidents
• Support road safety audits
• Identify & select safety
countermeasures
• Educate traffic engineers &
designers on user needs,
capabilities, and limitations

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Human Factors Guidelines: Example
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 Human Factors in the Highway Safety Manual
(HSM)

• HSM Ch. 2 describes several

aspects of Human Factors:
• Driving Task
• Information Processing
• Vision
• Perception-Reaction Time (PRT)
• Speed Selection

• AASHTO Green Book also

provides discussion

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 Driving Task - Role of the Driver
The driver plays an important role in design
◦ Must be able to identify indication in sufficient time to respond appropriately
Safe driving is function of drivers’ ability to
Receiving necessary information
Using this information correctly
Driver error is a factor in more than 90% of crashes and a primary cause in 45% to
75% of all crashes
◦ Distractions
◦ Impairment (DUI/DWI)
◦ Following too closely
◦ Failure to yield

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 Three Driving Tasks
Control
◦ Basic driving tasks
• Driver’s interaction with the vehicle
◦ Includes steering, speed control
Guidance
◦ Mid-level driving tasks
• Drivers’ maintenance of a safe speed and path
◦ Includes road/path following and responding to changes in the road, weather, and traffic
conditions
Navigation
◦ Highest-level driving tasks
◦ Planning and Executing a trip from the origin and destination
◦ Includes trip planning and route following (e.g., map navigation, verbal direction, guide signs,
landmarks)
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 Three Driving Tasks
Control, Guidance, and Navigation
◦ form a hierarchy of information handling complexity
Information handling
◦ Control level
• relatively simple and so completely overlearned by most drivers that it is performed almost by rote
◦ Guidance and navigation levels
• increasingly complex, and drivers need more processing time to make decisions and respond to
information inputs

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 Three Driving Tasks
Control, Guidance, and Navigation
◦ form a hierarchy in terms of the importance of safe driving
Primacy
◦ Control and Guidance level
• errors often result in crashes, these levels assume a higher primacy
◦ Navigation levels
• consequences of error are likely to be lost or confused drivers

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 Cognitive Information Processing
Most adults can store between 5 and 9 items in their short-term memory –
Miller’s Law
◦ 7±2 bits of info
◦ e.g., phone number is short term storage capacity for average human
Demands of tasks change based on conditions
◦ Traffic volumes
◦ Distractions
◦ Weather
◦ Impairment driving under influence, driving while intoxicated
Humans process information in serial
◦ Very rapid processing makes it seem like we are processing inputs in parallel

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 The Driving Task
Driving task - complex and demanding
often occurs at high speeds (expressway), congested road, under
time pressure, in unfamiliar locations, and under adverse OLA/UBER/Rented
environmental conditions vehicle driver

Driving task - simple and undemanding

Drivers in rural highways/ less
traffic volume @straight road
a driver becomes inattentive

Roadway designers need to consider the guidance component of the driving task
so that their designs can aid driver performance
- highway design and traffic operations have a great effect on guidance

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 Situational Demands
Drivers commit errors when task overloading or underloading occurs

• Overloading examples?

• Underloading examples?

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Task Overload Example

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Task Overload Example

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Task Underload Example

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 Task Underload Example
https://www.dangerousroads.org/around-the-world/our-lists/3759-the-10-
longest-straight-roads-in-the-world.html

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 Roadway Guidance
PRIMARY DRIVER GUIDANCE ACTIVITIES
◦ Lane placement
◦ Road following
• Drivers use feedback process to follow road alignment, integrates obstacle/collision–avoidance
decisions
◦ Car following
• more complex than road-following decisions, involves speed-control modifications
• Requires constant modification of speed to maintain safe gaps between vehicles

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 Roadway Guidance
◦ Passing manoeuvres
• decisions require modifications in road and car-following and speed control;

Driver decision to initiate, continue, or complete a passing

maneuver
◦ Other guidance activities
• include merging, lane changing, and response to traffic control devices- signal, sign

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Elements of Passing Sight Distance on 2-lane Highways
(AASHTO, 2001)

Dpassing = d1 + d2 + d3 + d4
 Providing Roadway Guidance Info
Drivers rely on both info from the current environment and previous experience
✔ Traffic control devices - Formal sources of information
▪ Signs (regulatory, warning, informatory)
▪ Pavement markings and delineators
▪ Traffic signals
▪ Variable Message Signs

✔ Roadway environment
▪ Roadway alignment
▪ Sight distances
▪ Placement of signs and other obstacles (guardrail, and
median barriers)

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 Ad Hoc Information
Drivers rely on “ad hoc” information gained immediately before a guidance
activity
▪ Information that pertains to the current or upcoming driving task

▪ Signs, markings, signals, VMS are all important sources of “ad hoc” information

ad hoc: made or done suddenly for a particular purpose

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 A Priori Expectancy
Improving the expectancy of a situation is key to reducing driver errors and subsequent crashes

✔Drivers develop “a priori” expectancy based on past experience

• Drivers will be more likely to respond correctly to familiar situations
• Improving expectancy to a situation is key to reduce driver errors and subsequent crashes

• Expectancy affects how drivers perceive and handle information and modify the speed and nature of their
responses

• Nationwide design consistency is very important

⮚ Codes, standard specifications

• Avoid unusual design features

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 Driver Expectancy
Drivers develop “a priori” expectancy based on past experience.
List three examples of:
◦ Consistency used in roadway design
◦ Uncommon design characteristics that may violate driver
expectancy

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Examples of expectancy violations in design…

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SHOULDER RUMBLE STRIP
SHOULDER RUMBLE STRIP
CENTERLINE RUMBLE STRIP
CENTERLINE RUMBLE STRIP
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 Ways Engineers Can Reduce Driver Error
oUnderstand your driver population and design accordingly
oProvide design consistency throughout the country as well as between
jurisdiction
oReduce situational demands such as info. overload
oDo not provide unnecessary information
oEnforce against voluntary distractions (e.g., texting, mobile use during driving)

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 Ways Engineers Can Reduce Driver Error
The Design Driver
Driver Characteristics and Design
Age and Driving
Vision and Driving

Visual functions contribute to about 90% of perceptual and

cognitive inputs essential for safe driving, and hence are
important assessable physical parameters to evaluate potential
driver safety

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 Design Driver
Design Criteria must be
based on the
capabilities and limitations of
MOST drivers and pedestrians

So first of all you need to know exactly who you are designing for. The group of people you are designing for is
called the user population

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 Who Do We Care For?
Cost trade-off:
◦ Designing for a greater % of population increases costs
What range of drivers use the system?
▪ Driving age: 18 years to __ years
Average Driver?
◦ Doesn’t capture enough people (~50% left behind)
Everyone?
◦ Often too broad a range (too expensive)
Diverse, but not quite everyone?
◦ Standard design practice: 85th – 95th percentile

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age

Age

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 Sources of Driver Information
Visual reception

❑ Seeing the environment is the most important human element of driving – roadway
alignment, sign, marking, interactions

Hearing perception

❑ It is necessary to be aware of surrounding audio, but vision is more important

• Sirens- Police and emergency vehicles

Others

• Feeling – forces on vehicle, surface texture through vibration in steering wheel

• Smelling – overheated engine, fire

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 Driving and Characteristics of Vision
Highway Safety Manual (USA) discusses five aspects of vision:
◦ Visual Acuity – Ability to see details at a distance (static and dynamic). Itself may not be a good
predictor of driving safety
◦ Contrast Sensitivity – The ability to detect slight differences in luminance (brightness of light) between an
object and its background;

◦ Peripheral Vision – The ability to detect objects that are outside of the area of most accurate vision within
the eye;

◦ Movement in Depth – The ability to estimate the speed of another vehicle by the rate of change of visual
angle of the vehicle created at the eye ; and,

◦ Visual Search – The ability to search the rapidly changing road scene to collect road information

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 Luminance (Brightness) Example

Be sure to
check
brightness
both day
and night!
Snellen chart

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 Visual acuity
Measure of the ability of the eye to distinguish shapes and the details of objects
at a given distance

20/20 Vision

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• Driver’s ability to clearly detect relatively moving objects (dynamic
visual acuity
• Most people have clear vision within a conical angle of 3 to 5 degrees
• Fairly clear vision within a conical angle of 10 to 12 degrees
• Vision beyond this range is usually blurred

Drivers will see clearly those devices that are within the 12 degree cone,
but objects outside this cone will be blurred

Key criteria in determining placement of traffic signs

Driving Eyesight Rules – Do I need Glasses to Drive?

20/20 20/25 20/35 20/40 20/50

 Vision Rule for driving country wise
•Most countries mandate visual acuity of 20/40 i.e., 6/12 in the better eye and
horizontal visual field of 120°
•In the United Kingdom, for private driver license, visual acuity of 6/12 is
mandated. For commercial drivers, visual acuity of 6/7.5 in the better eye is the
prerequisite
•In Australia, visual acuity of 6/12 and 110° horizontal field of vision is essential
for a private driving license. For commercial driving license, visual acuity of 6/9
in the better eye and 140° horizontal field of vision is required

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 In India, driving license is issued by the Regional Transport Offices of each state and the procedure is regulated by the
Motor Vehicle Act (MVA) 1988, amended in 2017.
• As per MVA, a self-declaration (form 1) to drive a non transport vehicle and
• a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner (form 1A) to drive a transport vehicle is the only formal
requirements.
• Self-declaration form 1 carries three questions related to visual function – 1. Is the applicant able to distinguish a
motor car number plate from 25 meters,
• 2. Is the applicant able to distinguish pigmentary colors red and green, and
• 3. Does the applicant have night blindness?
Medical examination form carries the same questions to be answered by a registered medical practitioner but does not
mandate any specific test or assessment criteria. If the number plate letter size is standard 65 mm, ability to see it from
25 meters approximately translates to a visual acuity of 20/40 and is rather subjective.
Unfortunately, the MVA amendment of 2017 did not include general vision-specific criteria for driving license that
includes visual acuity, colour vision, phoria or depth perception

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6/12 or better for monocular
vision

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On spot
vision
testing and
provision
of glasses
to drivers

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According to a World Bank study, road crashes are
estimated to cost the Indian economy between 5 to 7
percent of GDP a year

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 Contrast Sensitivity
The ability to detect slight differences between an object and its background in
◦ Luminance (brightness of light) and/or
◦ Chromatic (color)

Considered more important than visual acuity

Impacts ability to see signs and objects in road (including pedestrians!)

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Luminance (Brightness) Contrast

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 Luminance (Brightness) Contrast
Daytime (Diffuse reflection) vs. Nighttime (Retro-reflection)

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 Luminance (Brightness) Contrast
Daytime (Diffuse reflection) vs. Nighttime (Retro-reflection)

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Chromatic (color) Contrast

Compare the
vests. Which is
better?
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Improved Font Legibility

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 Peripheral Vision
The ability to detect objects that are outside of the area of most accurate vision
within the eye
• Details are not clear but motion can be detected
• Vision cone can be up to 160º horizontally
- decreases with speed, and age around (60-70 yrs)

Field of Clear vision in vertical plane – 2/3 of that in horizontal plane

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 Peripheral vision
It’s what allows you to see objects all around you without turning
your head or moving your eyes. It helps you to sense motion and do
activity without crashing into things. It’s what you use to see
something out of the corner of your eye.
◦ Drive
◦ Walk
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 Movement in Depth
The ability to estimate the speed of another vehicle by the rate of change of
visual angle of the vehicle created at the eye ;
When is this important?
• Passing on two-lane roads
• Judging gaps
- Very young and old have trouble judging gap

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 Movement in Depth
The human eye is not very good at estimating absolute values of speed,
distance, size, and acceleration.
◦ This is why traffic control devices are standard in size, shape, and color. (overtaking zone)

Standardization not only aids in distance estimation

◦ Also helps the color-blind driver to identify signs

Color Vision?
◦ Ability to differentiate one color from another

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 Characteristics of Vision
Combinations to which the eye is the most sensitive

Key in determining
traffic signs colors

Compare the
vests. Which is
better?
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 Color Vision Test
Lack of ability = color blindness
Can you see the numbers in each circle?

Compare the
vests. Which is
better?
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 Characteristics of Vision
How do engineers design around color blindness?
• Sign shapes
◦ Octagonal: Stop
◦ Triangular: Yield
◦ Rectangular: Information
Compare the
• Placement of traffic signal heads
◦ Green at bottom or right ??
vests. Which is
◦ Red on top or left ?? better?
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 Types of Glare
Direct glare : bright light appears in the individual’s field of vision
◦ Sun shines in your eyes
◦ Bright headlights from an oncoming vehicle
Reflected (specular) glare: image reflected by relatively bright light appears in
the field of vision

Glare Recovery: Ability to recover from the effects of glare

◦ Dark to light : 3 seconds -- headlights in the eye
◦ Light to dark: 6 seconds – turning lights off
◦ Usually a concern for night driving

Decrease of visibility and cause discomfort to the eyes

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Glare
Specular
glare

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 Hearing Perception
The ear receives sound stimuli, which is important to drivers only when warning
sounds by emergency vehicles
Other instances?
Important for ANY other road user?
Pedestrian – Longitudinal vs. crossing
movements (distracted)

New Risk Situations Related to Low Noise from Electric Vehicles: Perception
of Workers as Pedestrians and Other Vehicle Drivers
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7558663/

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Example..

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Population Pyramid
Baby boom in USA

in the U.S., the increase in

the birth rate between
1946 and 1964
 ISSUES RELATED TO AGING
▪Deficiencies
Affected task
◦ Road user point of view
▪Potential safety impacts
▪Strategies
 Potential safety impacts
1. Degraded Vision
◦Deficiency
◦ Acuity
◦ Depth perception
◦ Night vision
◦ Peripheral vision
◦ Colour recognition
◦ Glare sensitivity
 Affected driving tasks
Perception
Reading
Speed & distance estimation
 Potential safety impacts
Degraded Vision
◦Potential Safety Impacts
◦ Unalarmed to certain situation
◦ Improver maneuvers
◦ Excessive lane deviation
◦ Temporary blindness
◦ Glare
◦ Misjudgment of gap sizes
 Potential safety impacts
Degraded Vision
◦Strategies
◦ Increase legibility
◦ Increase visibility/conspicuity
◦ Increased retro reflectivity
◦ Increased contrast
◦ Increased target size
◦ Fluorescent colours
◦ Wet-water marking
◦ Internally illuminated marking
 Potential safety impacts
2. Degraded Motor skill
◦Deficiency
◦Reflexes
◦Flexibility
 Affected driving taskS
Reaction
Vehicle control
Checking mirrors & blind spots
 Potential safety impacts
Degraded Motor skill
◦Potential Safety Impacts
◦Unable to brake
◦Unable to maneuver quickly
◦Difficulty in backing up
◦Lane-changing risks
 Potential safety impacts
Degraded Motor skill
◦Strategies
◦ Design TCDs for greater perception-reaction distance

◦ Increase brightness and legibility

 Potential safety impacts
3. Degraded Cognitive abilities
◦Deficiency
◦ Slow information processing
◦ Confusion
◦ Inattention
 Affected driving taskS
Comprehension
Recognition
Reaction
 Potential safety impacts
Degraded Cognitive abilities
◦Potential Safety Impact
◦ Confusion
◦ Inattention
◦ Slow reaction
◦ Slow decision
◦ Incorrect responses
◦ Complex situation
 Potential safety impacts
Degraded Cognitive abilities
◦Strategies
◦ Reduce message complexity
◦ Turn Display
◦ Sign
◦ VMS
◦ Improve driver expectancy
◦ Uniform and consistent application of TCDs
◦ Provide information far in advance
 Other ways of
improvements..
RESEARCH

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 Driving Simulator Lab
Key Features
•Simulates realistic motion, driving conditions and sounds
•Facilitates instructor to control multiple Driver Stations simultaneously
•Contains a driver cabin fitted with real controls, steering, brakes and
accelerator
•Sets up gear sequence as per the original vehicle
•Provides motion feel to the trainees through Motion Platform
•Offers training under various environmental conditions
•Records trainee's errors and illustrates trainee's actions such as time taken to
shift the foot from accelerator to brake; right gear vs. right speed; accidents,
speeding; lane violation, dangerous turns and switching on ignition with gear
engaged

https://www.zentechnologies.com/zen_driving
_training_simulator.html
 Research using Driving Simulator in India & Abroad
1. Modelling driver distraction effects due to mobile phone use on reaction
time
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0968090X17300475
2. Effects of driver work-rest patterns, lifestyle and payment incentives on long-
haul truck driver sleepiness
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847818301931
3. Driver behaviour at the onset of yellow signal: A comparative study of distraction
caused by use of a phone and a music player

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847818305151

4. Effect of alcohol use on accelerating and braking behaviors of drivers

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15389588.2019.1587167
5. Examining braking behaviour during failed lane-changing attempts in a simulated
connected environment with driving aids
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0968090X21005131
CARRS-Q Advanced Driving Simulator
Outcome

Choudhary and Velaga 2017

 Effect of alcohol use on accelerating and braking behaviors of drivers
Traffic Injury Prevention, Journal of Taylor & Francis

• 82 healthy volunteers with age range (21–41 years)

• Indian driving license for period (1–20 years), mean driving experience of 5 years
• 62 were male and 20 were female
• Participants’ drinking habits were reported as rarely (at most once a week; 63.4%),
sometimes (once or twice a week; 25.6%), and often (more than twice a week;
11%)
• Beer was the most preferred drink (31.9%), followed by whiskey (27.8%), vodka
(13.9%), rum (13.2%), wine (10.4%), and gin (2.8%)

• No alcohol consumption was considered for the

baseline driving (0% BAC)
• Participants were asked to refrain from consuming
alcohol for 24 h before the experiment and were asked
to get a good night’s sleep to ensure- that the effects of
partial sleep deprivation did not affect their driving
performance.
 • A practice session was conducted (5–10 min) – BAC level measured
• Complete the questionnaire asking details about driver demographics,
driving characteristics, and drinking habits.
• Participants drove the simulated road scenario in the baseline state (0% BAC)
as well as 3 alcohol-impaired states (0.08% BAC, 0.05% BAC, and 0.03% BAC)
• The BAC results were not revealed to the participants during the experiment
to minimize expectation effects while driving
• The experiments were conducted in the late afternoon and evening sessions
• After the simulator session at 0% BAC, participants began consuming alcohol of their
choice (straight or diluted)
• Their BAC levels were checked at 5-min intervals after 20 min since the start of alcohol
consumption.
• When they reached a BAC level of 0.08%, they were asked to stop drinking and drive
the simulated road scenario.
• The BAC level of the participants decreased with time and they drove again when they
reached BAC levels of 0.05 and 0.03%