Embracing and Implementing Aviation Human Factors in Road Safety Management

Abstract

International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), through its Council reported that the safety of aviation has improved from 1945 onwards. Based on the measure of passenger fatalities for scheduled air transport operations per 100 million miles flown, the fatalities rate has declined from 5 (1948) to 0.05 (1997) and, the accident rate on this figure appears to be flat for recent years. Effective Human Factors applications in aviation remains at the forefront of methods by which aviation organisations can make aviation, already the safest form of travel, even safer. On the contrary, Malaysian road accident statistics and fatality index shows the number of accidents has increased from 189,109 to 341,252 with death toll hovers at an average of 5,200 annually from 1996 through 2005. Attention has been paid over the past few years by active organisations undertaking road safety research in Malaysia, the road safety themes shall centre on causal factors result from physiological and psychological limitations of humans. Aviation increasingly uses human factors awareness training and error management strategies to improve safety. Although vehicle cockpit environment is not as complex as that of aircraft flight deck, road transport can learn from aviation.