ACCIDENT LIABILITY AND HUMAN FACTORS - RESEARCHING THE RELATIONSHIP

Because human error is a major contributory factor in road accidents, there is a strong case for attempting to gain an understanding of the role of human factors in relation to safety. This paper suggests that studies of "accident liability" could significantly advance our understanding of this topic, and provide a basis for further behavioural studies. There are two main difficulties in this type of work. One is the sheer complexity of the accident situation, and the other is the statistics of rare events. These problems are discussed in the paper as a preliminary to the description of a recent study of self-reported accidents experienced by a group of "accident involved" drivers. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the relationship between the statistical approach to accident liability and other types of behavioural research. It is suggested that behavioural studies (for safety) would be better targeted if their role was that of "explaining" the associations (or differences) in accident liability revealed by the statistical analysis. (TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00410683
• Corporate Authors:

  Printerhall Limited

  29 Newmart Street
  London W1P 3PE,   England 
• Authors:
  • MAYCOCK, G
• Publication Date: 1985-6

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 330-335
• Serial:
  • Traffic Engineering & Control
  • Volume: 26
  • Issue Number: 6
  • Publisher: Hemming Group, Limited
  • ISSN: 0041-0683
  • Serial URL: http://www.tecmagazine.com/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Crashes; Highways; Human factors; Liability; Mathematical models; Research; Safety; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Traffic crashes; Traffic safety; Travelers
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 9001: Behaviour; 2755: Highway; 2257: Human factor; 6473: Mathematical model; 2264: Responsibility; 1755: Road user; 1665: Safety; 6555: Statistics
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Law; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I81: Accident Statistics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00451862
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-039 139
• Files: HSL, ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 31 1985 12:00AM