Team 6: Week 4 Report

Since our topic is to explore non-car traffic related activities, for this week's report I did a net search on air traffic accidents. From this search 100 topics were listed, many of them not related to air traffic at all. To narrow these topics down I skimmed through the listing of titles and clicked on those that I thought would be interesting. I chose three topics to explore further.

The first link under air traffic accidents was called Revision 8 accidents (sorry, link no longer contants data). It listed the dates of crashes, aircraft type, registry, destination and closet city. While browsing through I noticed that even crashes in Hawaii were listed. I found the information to be clear and concise, however I would have appreciated a column detailing the reason of the crash occurring and the airlines involved. There are lots of crashes listed, more than I had imagined. Exploring accidents and crashes of airplanes is very important in traffic psychology. Many people are deterred by such incidents and by becoming more aware of the causes of crashes and preparing one's self psychologically for a trip will better passenger mentality during air travel.

Another link was the Robinson R-22 Accident Analysis. It basically covered information on one specific type of aircraft, the Robinson R-22. The statistic were unbelievable.. Can you imagine only 7% of accidents are caused b mechanical or engine failure, whereas 92% of accidents are caused by pilot error. I was always under the impression that human error was high, but not 92%. This information disturbed me in that something in pilot training must be inadequate or perhaps involves a pilot's lack of experience. Looking at statistics of this nature raise questions of the minutes of pilots while flying. Just as we are studying our behavior, feeling and thoughts as drivers on the road, perhaps a study should be done on pilot's driving in the air. They deal with various weather conditions, navigation, stressors within the cab and mechanical agitation. The types of stress we experience on the road is similar to that in the air.

The last link I explored had nothing to do with air traffic accidents, but was included in the 100 links from my net search. It is called the Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Improvement Act of 1995. This act is "to amend title 23, United States Code, to provide a minimum level of funding for bicycle transportation facilities and pedestrian walkways, and for other purposes". It's basically a call for an alternate means of transportation. Through the building of safer walkways and bicycle paths there would be more encouragement to lessen the use of automobiles. By decreasing the number of vehicles on the road, automobile traffic will decrease, the environment would be better and society would all together be healthier.

I believe that this bill is a step in the right direction, but how do you motivate people to abandon the luxury of their own car for a bicycle or walking? When I first looked at this bill, I thought it was a great idea because there would be less automobile traffic. However, after thinking about it, automobile traffic will decrease, but bicycle and pedestrian traffic will increase. Therefore this bill may be causing more of a problem rather than curing one. I found this to be directly related to traffic psychology because it is an attempt to cure automobile traffic. It doesn't address the mentality of the driver, but attempts to use government power and control to inforce change. If not for this class I would not have realized a problem would be created by this bill.

All you traffic enthusiasts, drop be a note!
Braden Kato's Week 4 Report

Aaron Takahashi's Week 4 Report