A MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT CAUSAL SYSTEM: THE HUMAN ELEMENT

A motor vehicle accident causal reporting system, from a human factors viewpoint, is presented. The system is based upon a cause and effect relationship: the 'effect' being the primary failure, non-performance, or behavior which led directly to the collision situation; the 'cause' being the reasons for the human failure. The effects are described as information processing failures of four types: (1) perception failures, (2) comprehension failures, (3) decision failures, and (4) action failures. The reasons for, or causes, of these failures which lead to collisions are categorized. Two recent studies which used similar causal systems are described and findings are presented from them.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  Office of Research and Development, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Fell, J C
• Publication Date: 1974-7

Media Info

• Pagination: 28 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Crash causes; Crash injury research; Crash reports; Crashes; Drivers; Human factors; Research
• Subject Areas: Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00081958
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT-HS-801 214, HS-018 300
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 6 1983 12:00AM