Human Factors and Driver Behavior
Kittelson LLC’s human factors team evaluates how drivers perceive, process, and respond to the roadway environment — applying established cognitive science and driver-behavior research to help attorneys understand what a driver could see, know, and do before a crash.
Driver Attention, Workload, and Decision-Making in Crash Avoidance
We evaluate how drivers sense and perceive hazards, allocate attention, and make decisions under real-world time pressure using established cognitive and task-analysis methods. Our experts apply physical, visual, and cognitive task analyses to assess perception–response timing, competing task demands, and the limits of human performance in complex driving environments. These analyses help attorneys address issues of foreseeability, reasonable driver expectations, and whether a driver’s actions were consistent with accepted human-factors principles. By translating technical findings into clear, jury-relevant explanations, we provide defensible opinions that connect engineering evidence with real-world driver behavior.
Driver Distraction, Sleepiness, and Impairment
Our experts assess how distraction, fatigue, and impairment affect driver performance and crash risk. We analyze smartphone use, cognitive load, sleep deprivation, and other behavioral factors that influence hazard detection, situational awareness, reaction time, and driver actions. Evaluations integrate scientific literature with case evidence such as phone records, vehicle data, and scene characteristics — the same data our team extracts during crash reconstruction. This approach helps translate complex behavioral science into clear, defensible opinions for deposition and trial.
Driver–Vehicle Interface Design and Task Demands
Modern vehicles introduce new sources of cognitive and visual demand that can shape driver behavior. We evaluate infotainment systems, advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) interfaces, alerts, and mobile-device interactions to determine whether design features increased workload or diverted attention from the roadway. Our analyses focus on usability, task duration, glance behavior, and driver expectations — work that connects to our firm’s broader research and emerging technologies practice. These evaluations help attorneys understand how technology design can influence human performance and liability considerations.
Visibility and Conspicuity
We analyze whether a hazard was reasonably visible and perceptually noticeable to a driver under the specific environmental and roadway conditions. This includes evaluations of lighting, contrast, vehicle lighting systems, object placement, and the factors that influence how quickly drivers detect and recognize hazards. Our opinions distinguish between physical visibility and perceptual conspicuity — a key issue in many litigation contexts. These analyses help clarify what a reasonable driver could see, when they could see it, and how that affects response timing.
Teen, Inexperienced, and Older Driver Behavior
Drivers at different stages of life bring different capabilities and limitations to the roadway. We evaluate how inexperience, developing hazard-perception skills, and risk-taking tendencies influence teen and novice driver behavior, as well as how age-related changes may affect older drivers. Our analyses place driver actions within a scientifically grounded context rather than relying on assumptions or stereotypes. This perspective helps attorneys explain behavior in a way that juries and judges can clearly understand.
Meet Our Human Factors Experts
Daniel McGehee, PhD is a Senior Principal at Kittelson LLC specializing in driver perception-response time and hazard detection, attention and cognitive workload, crash avoidance under time pressure, and driver-vehicle/smartphone interface design. See his full background on our Our Experts page.
Christine E. Yager, PMP is a Senior Principal focused on distracted driving, driver behavior, and young driver research. Read her article, Courtroom-Ready Human Factors Analysis: Attention, Signage, and Visibility, or see her full background on our Our Experts page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a human factors expert witness do in a car accident case?
A human factors expert witness analyzes how a driver perceived, processed, and responded to the roadway environment before a crash — attention, distraction, visibility, and reaction time — to help determine whether the driver’s actions were consistent with reasonable human performance.
What is driver conspicuity and why does it matter in a crash case?
Conspicuity is how perceptually noticeable an object or hazard is to a driver, as distinct from whether it was simply visible. A hazard can be physically visible but still have low conspicuity due to lighting, contrast, or clutter — a distinction that’s often central to disputes over when a driver could or should have reacted.
How do experts determine if a driver was distracted or using a cell phone?
Human factors experts review cell phone records, infotainment and vehicle data, and scene evidence alongside scientific literature on distraction and cognitive load to assess whether and how a driver’s attention was diverted before a crash.
Can human factors experts evaluate ADAS and driver-assistance technology in a crash?
Yes. Human factors experts can evaluate whether advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) interfaces, alerts, and infotainment design increased a driver’s workload or diverted attention, which is increasingly relevant as vehicles include more in-cabin technology.