Toward Safe Systems: Traffic Safety, Cognition, and the Built Environment
Eric Dumbaugh, Dibakar Saha, Louis A. Merlin
Abstract
Conventional transportation practice attributes traffic crashes to human error, leading to the prevailing assumption that crash prevention is principally an outcome of driver education and law enforcement programs. But what if planning and urban design decisions induce human errors? In this study, we examine the literature in organizational systems safety, cognitive psychology, and behavioral economics to detail how cognitive interpretations of the built environment may produce the errors that result in traffic crashes. We proceed to examine crash incidence in Charlotte-Mecklenberg County in light of this cognitive framework and discuss its implications for research and practice.
Topics & Concepts
CognitionCrashEnforcementHuman errorLaw enforcementTransport engineeringHuman factors and ergonomicsPoison controlOutcome (game theory)PsychologyApplied psychologyComputer securityBusinessComputer scienceRisk analysis (engineering)EngineeringEconomicsLawPolitical scienceMicroeconomicsMedicineEnvironmental healthNeuroscienceProgramming languageTraffic and Road SafetyCrime Patterns and InterventionsSafety Warnings and Signage