CQUniversity is developing exciting new teaching programs in the developing field of forensic accident investigation. These are planned to be offered at degree through to masters and PhD levels and will start being rolled out in 2012.

The move stems from work researchers have been doing to improve knowledge related to safe design and human factors in road, rail and air transport. These fields continue to see accidents that could have been preventedwith better understanding of the factors that caused them.

Associate Professor Yvonne Toft from the School of Health and Human Services says "level‑crossing design is a clear case in point. In Australia and across the globe, there have been countless accidents and yet the accident rates remain concerning."

There is also a perceived level of interest for the program area.

"The increasing popularity of crash investigation programs on television demonstrates that the public are keen to understand why accidents happen," says the Dean of the School of Health and Human Services, Professor Andrew Bridges.

"We'll be teaching students how to join the growing number of professionals who have the skills to analyse the cause of accidents,and assess what's needed to prevent them re-occurring."

The new teaching and research programs will complement the safety science and human factors programs already offered.