Expansion of Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems, Second Edition

Published in 2012, NCHRP Report 600 was the first holistic complete release of the Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems (HFG) Second Edition. The HFG is a relatively new roadway design resource that provides data and insights from the scientific literature on the needs, capabilities, and limitations of road users, including perception and effects of visual demands, cognition and influence of expectances on driving behavior, and individual differences including age and other factors. The HFG has 21 guideline chapters with a total of 90 guidelines. The HFG assists practitioners in safety, operations, and design in developing a greater understanding of road users’ capabilities and limitations and how these issues could be incorporated into day-to-day decision making. At its inception, it was envisioned that the HFG would be a living document where new guidelines would be developed as new human factors needs were identified and new research studies and data became available. It was also recognized that some topics could not be included in the initial HFG publication. For example, NCHRP Report 600 does not include chapters or content for roundabouts; multimodal issues such as pedestrians, bicycles, transit, freight; elderly mobility issues; relevance of the HFG to urban and rural applications; and application of the HFG in road safety audits. This material is frequently sought after by practitioners using the HFG. The Transportation Research Board Joint Subcommittee on Human Factors Road Design Guides, AND10(2), with the assistance of numerous other TRB Committees provided input to the HFG. Since the development of the 90 guidelines in the current HFG, additional research has been completed that will permit the addition of additional guidelines. During 2013, HFG application pilot tests were performed by the state departments of transportation in Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Delaware. The tests were well received and addressed areas such as road safety audits, design, and diagnostic assessment of safety concerns. Concurrently, FHWA initiated the development of an HFG training course to be delivered by the National Highway Institute to state and local transportation departments and other organizations. The intent of these efforts is to promote the wide range of use of the HFG in safety analysis, diagnosis and evaluation as well as operational assessments. The AASHTO Highway Safety Manual (HSM) is also a key safety management and evaluation tool for state, regional, and local highway agencies including the planning, safety, design and traffic engineering professional community. The HSM was also developed largely through NCHRP research and the HSM First Edition was published in 2010. There is now ongoing NCHRP research to develop a proposed HSM Second Edition. The HSM and HFG promote improved safety for highway users and complement each other. While the HSM includes one section of a chapter on human factors, it provides only a broad scope, not specific guidelines. The HFG and HSM should be used together in conjunction with other design documents such as the AASHTO A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets (Green Book) and the FHWA Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and in coordination with the FHWA CMF Clearinghouse. Both the HFG and HSM when used together greatly enhance the efforts of highway engineers, traffic engineers, and planners to account for the road users’ needs in the design, operation, and management of roadways. The objective of this research is to prepare a proposed Third Edition Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems (HFG) based on updated and expanded guidelines. The proposed Third Edition HFG will synthesize and incorporate relevant ongoing and completed research, related documents, and user feedback in order to expand the scope and quality of the HFG to increase application and improve usability. The proposed Third Edition should be in a format and design similar to the Second Edition HFG, although recommendations for modification to format and style or design will be considered.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4056

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $499914
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 17-80

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 225
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  Bush, Mark

• Performing Organizations:

  Battelle Memorial Institute

  505 King Avenue
  Columbus, Ohio  United States  43201
• Principal Investigators:

  Campbell, John

• Start Date: 20161109
• Expected Completion Date: 20190809
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 40220

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; Driver performance; Fatalities; Guidelines; Highway design; Highway safety; Human factors in crashes; Traffic crashes
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01572380
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 17-80
• Files: TRB, RiP
• Created Date: Aug 7 2015 1:01AM