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UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES (UNSW)

CVEN 4405: Human Factors in Civil and Transport Engineering

Term 3, 2020 Human Factors Safety Assessment Checklist

Purpose: This checklist has been developed for CVEN 4405 students completing assessment AT3 (Group Research Project). It is a preliminary checklist developed by the Course Coordinator (Prof Michael Regan) specifically for this course, and is yet to be formally refined and validated as a scientific assessment tool.

Assessment AT3 requires students (in groups of 4-5) to identify an intersection or length of road in NSW which has a sizable crash problem. Students will be asked to investigate the location, understand the crash problem and hypothesise why the crash problem may be occurring, applying knowledge of HF principles. Groups will then be asked to propose potential countermeasure(s), which could be implemented to prevent or mitigate the crash problem, taking into consideration how this might impact other aspects of the socio-technical system as well as the future transport network. Groups will also be asked to design a study to evaluate the efficacy of the countermeasure.

This Human Factors Safety Assessment Checklist is designed to help students expose Human Factors issues that might be contributing to the crash problem at the sites they have chosen. The checklist has been derived primarily from material presented during the course, and includes some Human Factors-related questions drawn from Checklist 6 of the Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 6(a): Implementing Road Safety Audits.

General advice:

Before students use this checklist, it is important that they properly familiarise themselves with the crash location they have chosen to investigate:

• Watch and observe – spend 15 minutes or so simply watching and observing what is going on at the location

• Gut reaction – what is your big picture “gut feeling” for what problems might be going on? • Working as a traffic system – does the traffic system seem to be working in the way it

should? • Incidents – are there things going on that give you a high level clue to what might be some

underlying problems (e.g. near-misses; honking horns; people swerving; rapid braking etc)?

CHECKLIST

Human Factors Issue Yes No N/A Comment Visibility 1. Is the presence of approaching

intersections obvious to road users?

2. Are traffic signs and signals that need to be read within the driver’s field of view? (6 to 7 degrees away from forward line of sight)

3. Do sight distances seem adequate for all movements and all road users? Can everything that needs to be see, be seen?

4. Are traffic signs, signals and delineators able to be seen without being hidden by their background?

5. Are traffic signs, signals and delineators able to be seen without being hidden by adjacent obstructions (e.g. trees)?

Illumination 6. Is the road free of features that

interrupt illumination? (e.g. trees or overbridges)

7. Does the illumination support dark adaptation? (e.g. in a tunnel)

Glare 8. Are there any visibility problems

caused by the rising or setting sun?

9. Are there any visibility problems caused by glare from oncoming headlights?

Perception - Confusion 10. Is signage of a standard shape and

colour?

11. Is signage confusing? 12. Is signage ambiguous? 13. Is there driver confusion due to too

many signs?

14. Is alignment of the roadway clearly defined?

15. Has disused pavement (if any) been removed or treated?

16. Have old pavement markings been removed?

17. Do tree lines follow the road alignment?

18. Does the line of street lights or poles follow the road alignment?

19. Is the road free of misleading curves or combinations of curves?

20. Is the intersection layout obvious to all road users?

21. Are symbols on traffic signs and delineators, where used, in line with our past experience?

Perception – Speed 22. Does the design of the road

environment encourage people to exceed the speed limit? (e.g. wide roads; divided; few trees or other objects)

23. Do the speeds on advisory signs seem realistic and consistent?

Working Memory 24. Do warnings require immediate

response?

25. Are drivers frequently reminded of control information which varies along the road (e.g. speed limits)?

26. Are traffic signs and signals separated in time?

27. Is there too much information on traffic signs? (more than 7+/- items of information)

Information Needs 28. Are drivers are alerted in advance

to presence of intersections?

29. Are traffic signs and signals conspicuous? (in terms of size, brightness, bold, contrast, simple background)

30. Are traffic signs and signals legible (able to be read)?

31. Are traffic signs and signals comprehensible ( i.e. understandable)?

32. Are traffic signs and signals credible in their context (perceived to be appropriate)?

33. Do the colour, size and shape of traffic signals and signs appear to conform with national codes, guidelines and standards?

34. Are important messages adequately displayed (e.g. speed limit repeater signs)?

35. Is advance direction signing consistent and prominent?

36. Are all necessary regulatory, warning and direction signs in place? i.e. all that are needed by the road user to keep them safe?

Human Vulnerabilities 37. Fatigue: Have engineering

treatments been implemented to mitigate the effects of fatigue?

38. Distraction: Are their sources of distraction at and near the location that could divert a driver’s attention away from critical traffic signs, signals and delineators?

39. Hysteresis: Are pedestrian crossings, bus stops, etc, placed immediately downstream of an intersection? (which is undesirable)

Reaction Time 40. Do any traffic signals, signs or

delineation appear unusual?

41. Do traffic signals, signs, or delineation appear too small for the approach speed?

42. Are traffic signals, signs, or delineation poorly maintained (e.g. making them harder to see)?

43. Are traffic signals, signs, or delineation poorly located?

44. Are familiar situations (e.g. unusual intersection layouts or other traffic management treatments) – or unexpected responses – avoided?

45. Are the number of alternative courses of action the driver has to take been kept to a minimum ? (e.g. “No Entry”)

Delineation - Pavement Markers 46. Are the messages conveyed by

pavement markings clear and simply understood?

47. Are vehicle paths through intersections delineated satisfactorily?

48. Are all lanes properly marked (including any arrows)?

Behavioural adaptation 49. Are there any features of the road

and traffic environment likely to induce behavioural adaptation that compromises safety?

(Prof) Michael Regan, PhD

Course Coordinator

CVEN 4405