IMPACT ON ROAD DESIGN OF THE HUMAN FACTOR AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Road transport is described as a man-machine system where man, vehicle, and road environment interact in a complicated and dynamic way. The crucial input in the system is information. Information could be described as reduced uncertainty. The human functions that influence information acquisition and processing are reviewed. It is pointed out that some higher order mental functions (motivation, experience, expectation, attention) are very important since they influence directly the other functions (e.g. sensory processes, perceptual structuring, decision processes). One essential task for the road and traffic engineers is to ensure that the important information is included in this selection. To be able to do this he has to know the road user characteristics and the limitations of his information acquisition and processing. Some key concepts and their effects are known (e.g. feed back, reliability, limited capacity, predictions, stimulus intensity). But a lot of systematic research remains before we can really say that our transport system is really built for man. (Author/TRRL)

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Papers from the 9th IRF World Meeting, Roads Into the Future--Road Design and Safety--TS3, held in Stockholm, June 1-5, 1981.
• Corporate Authors:

  Svenska Vaegfoereningens Foerlags AB

  P.O. Box 27115
  S-102 52 Stockholm,   Sweden 

  Svenska Vaegfoereningens Foerlags AB

  P.O. Box 27115
  S-102 52 Stockholm,   Sweden 

  Svenska Vaegfoereningens Foerlags AB

  P.O. Box 27115
  S-102 52 Stockholm,   Sweden 
• Authors:
  • Rumar, K
• Publication Date: 1981

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: p. 31-50
• Serial:
  • Publication of: Svenska Vaegfoereningen Foerlags AB
  • Publisher: Svenska Vaegfoereningens Foerlags AB

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Communications; Conferences; Driver information systems; Drivers; Environment; Highway design; Human factors; Information systems; Perception; Planning; Safety; Travelers
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver perception; Highway user characteristics
• ITRD Terms: 9098: Communication; 8525: Conference; 2455: Environment; 2855: Highway design; 2257: Human factor; 143: Planning; 1665: Safety
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00345561
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 27 1982 12:00AM