Review of the 'looked but failed to see' accident causation factor

In-depth surveys of road traffic accidents have shown that a number of them are attributed to one or more of the involved road users having looked in the appropriate direction(s) but failed to see the person or vehicle with whom/which they collided. Such explanations almost invariably derive from subjective accounts of causation offered by offending road users and/or by police officers recording their accidents and/or by members of the multi-disciplinary research teams which launched these in-depth surveys at the sites of accidents shortly after they occurred. This Review was therefore commissioned with the following objectives: 1. To review the accident literature in order to estimate the magnitude of the problem, to investigate the types of road user for whom it is most likely to be recorded, and to evaluate the road and traffic situations in which it is most likely to be recorded; 2. To evaluate the probability that the reported problem represents a genuine psychological phenomenon of attention, perception and cognition, relative to a number of alternative predictable possibilities; 3. To consider whether the phenomenon, if genuine, is researchable and, if so, to recommend methods by which its psychological basis may be most satisfactorily understood and appropriate counter-measures taken.

• Record URL:
  http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme2/
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/1904763561
• Corporate Authors:

  Great Britain. Department for Transport

  London,    
• Authors:
  • Brown, I D
• Publication Date: 2005-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 87p
• Serial:
  • Issue Number: 60

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attention; Behavior; Crash analysis; Crash causes; Drivers; Highway safety; Perception; Psychology; Research; Vision
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road safety (human factors)
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• ATRI Terms: Attention; Crash analysis; Crash cause; Driver behaviour; Perception; Psychology; Research needs; Road safety; Visual performance
• Subject Areas: Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01388633
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• ISBN: 1904763561
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Aug 23 2012 1:09AM