Human Factors in Highway Design, Operation and Safety Problems

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Abstract
On several urban freeways, peak hour traffic leads drivers to operate vehicles at time spacing less than their fastest emergency reaction time. Therefore, factors affecting speed and accuracy of driver judgment and response have become critically important. Experimental studies have shown how driver perception, judgment, and response time (measured by driver lag in acceleration and deceleration) can be affected by highway design features. Experimental studies of factors affecting driver responses when combined with mathematical analyses based on such driver-vehicle-highway responses may explain differences in maximum traffic flow at which self limiting stoppage occurs without adequate physical causes in heavy traffic. Other human engineering data already available or obtainable through specialized studies suggest ways of obtaining more efficient driver-vehicle-highway-and-environment interrelationships and, thereby, more efficient and safer operation of highways. Examples of such information and studies are given.

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