How did a shallow spot in a river ten thousand years ago affect pedestrian safety today? What do lifts have to teach us about the safety of roll-on-roll-off ferries? What does Stanley Kubrick have to say about aviation safety and what does that mean for the future of automated vehicles? What does any of this have to do with the arrangement of gates and fences and the effect these things have on the lives of sheep?

‘Systems Thinking’ is becoming a buzzword in transport safety, but what does it actually mean and how should you start applying Systems Thinking techniques to make transport safer? Systems Thinking has useful lessons for transport practitioners of all disciplines and in all modes, whether you are an engineer designing instrument panels for oil tankers or a policy officer promoting active travel for a local authority.

This presentation will explain the benefits of Systems Thinking to transport practitioners of all kinds, and outline the work that TRL has recently completed for the UK Department for Transport to help develop the application of Systems Thinking tools to the safety of all transport modes.

Dr Ianto Guy, Senior Consultant, TRL

Dr Ianto Guy is a senior consultant in vehicle safety and technology at TRL. His background is in the off-highway vehicle industry, holding an MEng in Off-road Vehicle Design and PhD in 4x4 transmission behaviour from Harper Adams University, where he also taught for ten years.

He is also a practicing paramedic, having trained with the Welsh Ambulance Service but now primarily working in motorsport.

At TRL he works across a diverse range of fields including micromobility, automation for on and off-highway vehicles and collision investigation.