Human factors, or ergonomics, is a field of scientific study important to the understanding of fatal motor vehicle accidents, semi-truck crashes, motorcycle and bicycle roadway collisions, and deadly pedestrian accidents. Research here seeks to understand how people interact with machines as they use them – particularly, cars, minivans, SUVs, pickups, and commercial vehicles (e.g., 18-wheelers, semis, big rigs, and tractor trailers). Read, “What is Human Factors and Ergonomics?” published by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
This is particularly important in our part of the country, since Indiana and Illinois face tremendous dangers of catastrophic and deadly vehicular accidents that are more likely to happen here than in other states. Consider this:
- We drive daily on interstates that move cargo through our “Crossroads of America,” creating greater risks of semi-truck crashes especially on notorious roadways like Indiana’s Borman Expressway.
- Pedestrians face a shockingly high risk of being killed in a motor vehicle accident in our area particularly on the streets of Chicago. Pedestrian accidents happen at an unacceptably regular basis in Chicagoland. See: Chicago Pedestrian Accidents: How Dangerous Are Chicago Streets?
Experts in human factors research seek to understand how drivers cognitively gather information as they drive. What do they see? What do they hear? Both visual and auditory perceptions are used by the driver not only to take in the external data, but to process that information, and make decisions. This all happens continuously, and in split-second timing.
The key here: determine why the driver fails to respond appropriately in a situation, where the result is a crash with that driver and/or others involved in the accident suffering serious or fatal bodily injuries.
The design of the roadway itself may be a factor in driver cognition with a fatal crash involving motor vehicles alone, or where a bicycle or pedestrian has been hit by a car. For instance, in Chicago there are infamous intersections where walking across the street is known to be dangerous. Read, Causes of Chicago Pedestrian Accidents.
However, most serious or fatal motor vehicle accidents are attributed to driver error involving their brain’s processing of information while operating the vehicle. And while some may assume this is simply another way of saying “distracted driving,” the human brain functions in such a way that the driver may fail to operate the motor vehicle safely even though the driver is being careful not to use their phone and to avoid the infotainment system. Inattention in driver brains can also involve things like being (1) overloaded and (2) facing a monotonous drive. See, Bucsuházy at 558.
Key here is the driver’s expectancies when they are driving. Distracted driving is not the only reason for cognitive errors where drivers after a travesty cry out things like “I never saw them!”
Expectancies and Expectancy Violation
In one Ohio courtroom, a human factors expert explained what expectancies are in a motor vehicle accident, and how violations of those expectancies can result in disaster. He first defined expectancies as “…beliefs or understandings how different activities, situations, events or systems work or are supposed to work.” O’Brien v. Dept. of Transp., 132 N.E.3d 1163, 2019 Ohio 724 (Ct. App. 2019).
Automatic Thoughts
First, there are “automatic thoughts.” They are needed to be efficient. They are not bad, in and of themselves. You hit the gas pedal; you expect the vehicle to increase in speed. You do not have to think about moving your foot, judging how to push and where to push, etc. As you drive, you will hit the pedal automatically, without conscious decision making, and expect the usual result.
When there is “expectancy violation,” something happens that goes against what the driver’s brain is predicting to happen based upon its past information.
The result? The driver’s brain will need more time to take in this jarring interruption: what is different here? What is the proper response? Is there a need to decide between more than one possible reaction?
Needed Time to Process the Expectancy Violation
Time is key. The brain will need more time to process and react to an expectancy violation. And as the Ohio expert detailed in that accident case, sometimes there is not enough time for the driver to cognitively respond before a crash happens.
Or, the driver does respond but it’s a mistake. Without enough time to process things, the driver’s response may be to make a deadly error.
Motor Vehicle Accidents and Human Factor Expert Analysis
After a serious traffic accident in Illinois or Indiana, human factor experts working on behalf of the accident victim and their loved ones, as well as ergonomic experts for those who may have legal liability for what has occurred, may seek to understand if expectancy violation was a contributing factor in the crash.
What was the driver’s brain doing – processing – at the time of impact and immediately prior to the event? Can we understand what happened in the information being presented to that driver that helps to explain things?
While it may seem mysterious, these experts can provide enlightenment to the reasons for lives being lost on our roadways. Human factor expertise can help us correlate things like reaction times and identify how things veered away from the driver’s cognitive predictions.
One article describes the “deception in driving” this way (emphasis added):
But drivers, lulled by the uneventfulness of the typical traffic stream, and cocooned in the comfort of their vehicles, tend to be oblivious to this powerful undercurrent of violence, until a miscalculation or an unfortunate combination of circumstances brings it ripping to the surface.
Suddenly, the routine trip to the store, the daily delivery, the trip with the family, can turn into a twilight zone of disbelief, where complacency is shattered and the consequences are like a nightmare….
Most critical in understanding the problem of accidents is understanding that drivers don’t necessarily see things just because they’re there and clearly visible. Their eyes, which collect 90% of the information used in driving decisions, have to gather information rapidly. They can’t see everything that’s there, so they do their job selectively, flicking about from the road ahead to traffic, the mirrors, and anything else that catches the driver’s interest.
Experience plays a critical role in where drivers look and what they see. In the world of human factors, that’s called “expectancy.”
Liability after a Fatal Crash Involving Expectancy Violation
Deadly accidents on our roadways that cause the deaths of drivers, passengers, cab occupants, motorcyclists, bicyclists, or pedestrians will need extensive investigations into the event in order to determine all the reasons why these heartbreaks occurred. Each case deserves its own special consideration and respect.
Part of these investigations may involve the use of a human factors expert where the science of ergonomics can be used to help explain the driver’s actions. Was there something that deviated from the driver’s perceptions and predictions shortly before impact? What was it?
And are there third parties who may be accountable for the harm that resulted from this expectancy violation?
Ponder these scenarios:
- If a driver expects the road ahead, which they drive every day, to be free from debris and suddenly there is an oil slick that causes the driver to veer and lose control of their rig can the source of that oil spill be accountable to the accident victims?
- If a driver is on the way home from the office, moving along a roadway without warnings of road construction ahead and topping the hill is unable to react before slamming into someone working on the roadway, can the construction company be liable because of this expectancy violation?
- If a driver is moving within the speed limit on a known route to the grocery store and someone darts out between parked cars into the vehicle’s path, is this an expectancy violation that results in a fatal pedestrian accident?
For more on cognition factors in the brains of drivers and vehicular accidents, read:
- Driving, the Brain, and Serious or Fatal Injuries: The Neuroscience of Driving in Car Accidents and Truck Crashes
- Sleepy, Tired, Fatigued, Exhausted Drivers: Brain Function and Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Teen Drivers, Adolescent Brain Development, and the Danger of Deadly Car Crashes
- Fatal Car Accident and Deadly Truck Crash Investigations: What is Expectancy Violation?
Here in Illinois and Indiana, all too many motor vehicle accidents result in preventable deaths that investigation reveals have happened due to a driver’s cognitive expectancy violations. Please be careful out there!
