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Driving Behavior: Human Factors of Accidents
Humatec's multi-dimensional approach in supporting vehicular, work-site and industrial injury litigation brings together expertise from safety compliance and human factors components. Human Factors is the study of behavior and decision-making, and can be used to appropriately analyze human actions leading up to and involved in accidents or injuries.
Some everyday tasks and actions involved intricate human behaviors; one such behavior is driving a vehicle. Everyday drivers are bombarded by stimuli and an environment that demands their fullest attention. This can be described as "situational awareness." However, each driver is subject to environmental distractions, some beyond their control and other distractions completely predicated upon their own personal choices.
According to the Department of Transportation, there were 190,625,023 licensed drivers in the United States in 2000. This is an increase of 23.73% since 1980 and a 12.39% increase since 1990. According to the US Census, there were 10.6 million motor vehicle accidents in 2007. Of those accidents, over 43,000 resulted in the death of an individual.
As described by Gibson and Cook (1938), "of all the abilities that contemporary civilization requires of us, driving is the most important for individuals in the sense that errors in this ability translate into the greatest threat to human life."
One of the many areas of Human Bahavior that Human Factors professionals and Ergonomists study is the interaction between humans and their ability to safely and efficiently operate a vehicle.
- Driving is and example of an environment in which survival relies heavily on bisual attention, awareness of one's surroundings, and the correct recognition of environmental factors the present dangers.
- When driving, drivers constantly perceive visual cues which they interpret, prioritize and base decisions upon. There are many factors which determins how quickly we perceive stimuli, interpret its meaning and relevance, and make a decision and act upon it.
Drivers who suffer any lapse in their situational awareness, either through inattention or distraction, cause many auto accidents. Distraction is attention to irrelevant stimuli or actions, over more important environmental factors or actions. In 2006, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published results form the "100 car study," which reported that inattention contributed to 78% of all recorded crashes and 65% of near-crashes.
Distractions of all types that drivers are presented with can be within the vehicle or external. Some of these distractions are elected, meaning behaviors the drivers chooses to perform while driving. Others are more reactionary or involuntary, and forced upon the driver's attention.
External stimuli can include, but are not limited to:
- Advertising Billboards
- Other vehicles, in traffic and on the road shoulder
- Road Construction zones, workers, and equipment
- Pedestrian traffic flow, cyclists nd walkers
- Emergency vehicle bahavior
- Any external aciton or stimuli diverting the driver's eyes from the road
Inside the vehicle some distractions are tasks the driver chooses, or elects to perform while driving.
- Talking on a cell phone
- Applying make-up
- Changing radio-stations, CD's and DVD's
- Looking for a cigarette or lighter
- Eating
- Addressing car passenger behavior
- Pop-up navigational displays
- Reading maps or other documents
Other distractions are more involuntary. For instance, electronic billboards by desgn and intended to draw a driver's attention from the road to the advertisement. Studies ahve shown that evena short distraction of only several seconds greatly increases the potential for driver error causing an accident.
Distractions such as these can inhibit a driver's ability to safely operate a vehicle and can lead to injury or death of themselves or others.
Board Certified Human Factors Professionals and Ergonomists can help determine if distractions contributed to accidents.