> for instance the idea that coordinated hand eye movement of pointing is contributing to safety We have a lot of human factors research showing that proper ch

> for instance the idea that coordinated hand eye movement of pointing is contributing to safety We have a lot of human factors research showing that proper checklist use involves pointing (and ideally vocalization of the checklist item), resulting in a significant reduction of inadvertent omissions. It's just way too easy to accidentally get into the rhythm of saying checklist items without doing them, and having to point keeps your attention focused on the item. Finger-on-instrument-to-point is becoming very common in air transport. It's not universal in rail culture in countries other than Japan, but would probably further reduce errors (as you point out, rail is already very, very safe at baseline). Indeed, the MTA evidence mentioned in the article suggests this.