1st Edition
Integrating Human Factors Methods and Systems Thinking for Transport Analysis and Design
Governments and road safety agencies around the world have either introduced or are considering 'safe system' strategies, a long overdue acknowledgement that different elements of the road system contribute to road safety outcomes. Human factors approaches have a leading role here in both conceptualising the road system as a complex sociotechnical system and in providing practical approaches to support true systems-based countermeasures. This book illustrates the potential for integrating contemporary systems-based human factors methods with modern day driving-assessment methods, such as vehicle instrumentation and driving simulation, to understand and enhance performance in modern day road-transport systems. The book outlines why a fundamental paradigm shift is needed in the way these systems are designed and operated, and illustrates how a wide range of accepted human-factors approaches can be applied successfully to road transport to revolutionise the countermeasure design process. The practical illustrations of these human factors methods are applied to a long-standing road and rail safety issue: rail level crossings, where the road and rail systems intersect. The final chapter of the book highlights the utility of the human factors approach to reducing road trauma and discusses future applications of the approach.
Table of contents
Part 1: Introduction to the research approach
Chapter 1 – Systems thinking in transport analysis and design
Chapter 2 – An overview of key human factors approaches and methods
Chapter 3 – An integrated framework for transport analysis and design
Part 2: Rail level crossing data collection and analysis
Chapter 4 – Understanding the current system
Chapter 5 – A systems analysis of rail level crossings
Part 3: Design of new rail level crossing environments
Chapter 6 – A participatory approach to designing novel rail level crossings
Chapter 7 – Evaluating initial design concepts using the systems models
Chapter 8 – Design refinement
Part 4: Evaluation of design concepts
Chapter 9 – Experimental evaluation of novel design concepts
Chapter 10 – Evaluation of novel design concepts by all road users
Part 5: Conclusions and future applications
Chapter 11 – Summary and conclusions
Chapter 12 – Future applications and opportunities
Appendix - Guidance for using the key human factors methods and approaches
Biography
Gemma J. M. Read, Neville A. Stanton
