pooled fund Projects
In progress
Applied Human Factors in Road Safety - Updated March 2012
| Research Area | Road safety Human factors |
| Responsible Council / Committee | Chief Engineers' Council Road Safety Standing Committee |
| Related TAC publications | The Canadian Guide to In-service Road Safety Reviews (2004) The Canadian Road Safety Audit Guide (2001) Road Safety Engineering Management Guide (2009) |
| Start Date | October 2010 |
| Expected Completion Date: | April 2012 |
| Research Agency: | Intus Road and Safety Engineering Inc. |
| Status: | Final results will be presented to the Chief Engineers' Council in April 2012. |
| Project Funding Partners | New Brunswick Department of Transportation; City of Edmonton; Transport Canada; Ministère des transports du Québec; Alberta Transportation; ICBC; CITE; Ministry of Transportation, Ontario; Translink; British Columbia Ministry of Transportation; Saskatchewan Highways and Infrastructure |
| Staff Contact | Craig Stackpole |
Abstract
There is a need for a human factors resource to support Canadian highway designers, traffic engineers, and road safety practitioners. Although there are a number of human factors resources currently available, most are primarily organized for human factors specialists and may not meet the needs of road practitioners. The major objective of this project is to develop an applied human factors text structured for highway designers, traffic engineers and other practitioners in rural and urban environments in Canada.
Work in this project will include the review of new and emerging resources on human factors and road safety and the preparation of a new text that would complement other publications in TAC’s road safety series. It is expected that the text would be structured to consider design elements that impact road users (e.g. cross-sections, intersections, interchanges) and address road user errors, potential countermeasures and treatments. Specific urban and rural issues and human factors problems, such as signing and speed management, will also be addressed.
The Transportation Research Board is pursuing work to develop human factors guidelines; however it is expected that the focus will be on driver requirements and guidelines to highway design. The aim of this project would be to develop a TAC publication that would explicitly integrate safety within the discussion of human factors, be more holistic in its approach, and provide Canadian examples using local experience.
The major deliverable of this project will be a practical handbook for the application of human factors to road design and traffic operations integrated with explicit safety.