Capabilities
Human factors expert witness services
Based in Bryan, Texas, Christine Yager Consulting provides attorneys across Texas and nationwide with independent human factors analysis and expert witness services in motor vehicle accident cases.
What is human factors?
Human factors is the study of how people take in information, make sense of it and act on it, and how the design of tasks, tools and surroundings shapes what they do.
Applied to driving, it asks what information was available to a driver, whether and when that information could be noticed and understood, and how long a response would reasonably take. A human factors expert witness helps a judge or jury understand the driver's side of a crash: whether, and how soon, a driver could have seen, recognized and responded to a hazard.
How it fits with accident reconstruction
Accident reconstruction establishes where the vehicles were and how fast they were moving. Human factors analysis starts from that work and asks what the people involved could perceive and do in the time available. Christine does not reconstruct crashes; she works from the reconstruction and the case record. See how human factors and accident reconstruction compare.
Specialties
Areas of focus
Each specialty links to an article explaining the concept, how it bears on driving, and the questions a human factors analysis can address.
Services
From early review to testimony
Common questions from counsel are answered in the frequently asked questions.
Case review and consultation
An early read on whether the case raises human factors questions and what the record can support.
Research and analysis
Applying the published research to the evidence in the record.
Inspection and testing
Site visits and visibility or sight-line observations where they help answer a question.
Verbal opinions
Findings discussed directly with counsel.
Written reports and declarations
Opinions set out with the basis for each one.
Exhibits
Clear visual explanations of perception and timing for a judge or jury.
Deposition and trial testimony
Testimony in state and federal courts when designated.
Discuss a matter
The analysis is the same whichever side retains the practice.