Alternative information signs : an evaluation of driver comprehension and visual attention.

Details

• Creators:
  Hurwitz, David S. ; Olsen, Michael ; Neill, Justin
• Corporate Creators:
  Oregon State University. School of Civil and Construction Engineering
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Traffic signs
  • Legibility
  • Visibility
  • Comprehension
  • Surveys
  • Simulation
  • Best practices
• Publication/ Report Number:
  2013-S-OSU-0029
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans) (UTC)
• Abstract:
  The effectiveness of a traffic sign is collectively influenced by the sign’s understandability, legibility distance, glance legibility, and ; learnability; however, understandability has been repeatedly identified as a one of the most important measures of effectiveness. ; This study contributes to best practices for evaluating traffic sign understandability by using a variety of online survey questions ; and driving simulation tasks to assess the understandability of alternative Tourist Information signs in Oregon. To achieve this goal, ; the understandability of five alternative Tourist Information signs were first tested in an online survey with 142 participants, ; resulting in the identification of the four best-performing alternatives. The understandability of these alternatives was then tested in ; the OSU Driving Simulator with 42 participants. The “INFO” Sign was found to be correctly understood by 95.7% of the driving ; simulator subjects. The two “i” Sign alternatives had the second and third highest comprehension rates for driving simulator ; subjects with 72.8% for signs without a circular border and 75.4% for signs with a circular border. There was a statistical ; difference, at the 95% level, between the comprehension results of the online survey and the driving simulator test of the “?” Sign. ; However, it is likely that comprehension rates for the “i" Sign will continue to increase in the future due to its prolific usage in a ; wide variety of contexts.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29520/dot_29520_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.31 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:091956e63a3628ec2b18eed3139b440cacf128614020f0da2dbc4955440740cb40875e76322d58e21ba4bc3e2e76b773abb93a7e89230b3cfa04f9d0c2674c03