Human Error - information overload?
"Motorists are in danger of crashing because of an inability to decipher all the information that is thrown at them on their journeys,
Our conclusion from this news is that highway planners could do well to attend the DHI course on Human fallibility.
According to the director of the RAC Foundation speaking at the Institution of Highways and Transportation "Driver Information" conference in London.
Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, tells delegates that "clutters of contradictory signs lead to confusion that can result in collisions. King argues that sometimes " information overload" means that motorists can miss the most important information. Most drivers when concentrating hard to follow directions in an unknown area will turn down the radio and tell passengers to be quiet. They do this instinctively to avoid information overload.
The Foundation’s motoring psychologist has argued that "five plus or minus two" is the amount of messages or points of information that we can think of and take in at any one time. If we are focusing on too many messages then we can miss some crucial information. Driving in a rural area with traffic news on the radio, instructions from Sat Nav, over complex road signs with four different messages, means we may miss the "flood" sign. We may see it but not take it in. We then end up in deep water.
We say:
This is absolutely consistant with what is known as the problem of 'Multiple Monitors' and is just one of the topics to be fully discussed in our VISUAL INSPECTION (Human Fallibility) course
Research shows that the ability of the human being to take in information decreases rapidly and linearly as the quantity of information increases.
For example, if an inspector is required to check just for one feature