La integración del factor humano en el ámbito técnico de la gestión de las carreteras y la seguridad vial: Un enfoque investigativo

The thesis entitled “Integration of human factors in the technical field of road safety and management: A research approach” discusses a first approach to integrating human factors in the technical field of road safety and management. The scope of this research is innovative. It is an example of the necessary approach and complementarity between interrelated disciplines with a common way in road safety such as psychology and civil engineering. Very important topics are discussed such as topical studies, methodologies and measures concerning road safety in the management of road network by the various administrations and in the field of civil engineering in general. Prospectively a first approach to integrating human factors in the technical field of road safety and management with a special focus on secondary roads is carried out. It is well known that in traffic operation, many often operational mistakes result from a direct interaction between road characteristics and the driver’s perception characteristics. Currently, despite advances in road engineering sectors as road design, mobility, traffic and civil engineering, many roads still show sections with a high accident concentration, commonly known as black spots. First of all, a bibliographical review about human factors and road design and management was carried out. Although a large number of sources could be found on the research subject of road safety management and road design, the existing knowledge about performance of human factors in the context of road design is incomplete. Consequently, specific countermeasures focused on human factors are rarely developed in our country and other countries. The fieldwork of this research is focused on technical professionals with responsibilities in management of the road infrastructure in Spain and on evaluating their training, knowledge of human factors and practices. Road safety is an all-embracing problem and requires a comprehensive approach. In fact, the variety of professional fields involved and academic disciplines may even hinder the application of such knowledge by road designers. Furthermore, given that the driving task is learned, it should be easily understood in the context of self-explaining roads that meet the expectations of drivers. The gap between theory and practice is also treated in the thesis. The knowledge concerning human factors measures and their safety impact is very limited. Because of the above, another treated subject will be measures and countermeasures to improve road safety and actual and perceived effectiveness by professionals. The importance of the evaluation of the measures was also discussed.