2009 Human Factors Workshop

Approximately 140 safety professionals from the Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and South Dakota transportation departments, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the health care industry, Iowa's three state universities, law enforcement agencies, local governments, driver education instructors and others who work to assist with driver safety, gathered at a workshop in Ames on Nov. 5, 2009.

After an opening session from Dr. Dan McGehee, director of the Human Factors and Vehicle Safety Research Program at the University of Iowa, and updates on the national perspective on safety, the large group divided into smaller working groups focusing on six topics, judgment and decision making, older drivers, young drivers, commercial drivers, impaired driving, and intelligent transportation systems.

These groups worked to build on information gathered at a similar workshop in 2005. They revisited the information gathered at that session, discussed what research has been accomplished since 2005 and attempted to boil down the issues before them into updated research problem statements that were later brought back to the larger group. All participants then voted to prioritize 20 of the research problem statements brought forward from the breakout groups. These problem statements will assist researchers in defining new projects to be implemented in the future.

Top 25 Research Ideas
Research vote details

Visit 2009 Human Factors and Roadway Safety Workshop Web site