Human Error and Behavior in Traffic Accidents

The Human Element in Traffic Accidents

The human element in road safety can be analyzed from two distinct points of view: first, as an element that must be preserved from suffering damage in traffic accidents, and secondly, as a decisive factor involved in causing those accidents. Man is the element who directly controls the vehicle as the active participant in the accident, while also indirectly influencing the physical environment. Everything is closely related to human reaction time.

Driver Skills and Behavior

Within educational and psychological frameworks, we note two types of skills:

• Natural skills: Physical or intellectual abilities that are acquired effortlessly.
• Technical skills: Abilities acquired through practice and psychological study.

Character represents a person's peculiar way of behaving. Participating in traffic without accepting some level of risk is highly unlikely. To manage this risk, several key factors must be addressed:

1. Information Processing: Quickly receiving information to be processed and providing an instant solution to avoid a crash.
2. Technical Mastery: The driver must have technical mastery of both the vehicle and the situation.
3. Perception of Risk: For many people, risk is fascinating and seductive.
4. Assumed Risk: Traffic accidents are often an assumed risk of modern transit.
5. Age and Capability: There are clear relationships between age, performance capability, and the ability to drive motor vehicles.
6. Road Education: We must promote and encourage road safety education, ensuring that future drivers are aware of the responsibilities involved in driving a car or traveling on the street.

Investigating Traffic Accidents

When investigating a traffic accident, investigators must try to discover the specific conditions of the driver or pedestrian and their forms of behavior. Driving is a human activity that requires high potential energy and the development of all psychological faculties due to the complex circumstances surrounding movement.

Three Categories of Human Error

In most accidents, an incorrect human attitude is present. We can classify human error into three main categories:

1. Physical and Somatic Factors: Issues affecting the clinical and physical state of drivers, such as headaches, dizziness, tiredness, permanent impairment, disability, deafness, or motor inadequacies.
2. Psychic and Psychological Factors: Issues affecting the mind, such as a lack of knowledge or attention, dangerous or antisocial attitudes, mental illness, emotional instability, personal conflicts, drug abuse, and alcoholism.
3. Lack of Knowledge, Experience, or Expertise.