United States Department of Transportation
i
Driver Visual Behavior in the Presence of Commercial Electronic Variable Message Signs (CEVMS)
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2011-03-01
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[PDF-3.09 MB]
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Abstract:This study was conducted to investigate the effect of CEVMS on driver visual behavior in a roadway driving environment. An instrumented vehicle with an eye-tracking system was used. Roads containing CEVMS, standards billboards, and areas not containing off-premises advertising were selected. Two experiments are reported that were conducted in two separate cities in which the same methodology was employed and differences with respect to such variables as the roadway visual environment were taken into account. The results showed that drivers did look at CEVMS a greater percentage of time than at standard billboards; however, the time spent looking at off-premise advertising was less than 5 percent when the signs were visible to the participants across the two experiments. Long glances at off-premises advertising were not evident. The longest glance at a CEVMS was less than 1.3 seconds and glances greater than 1 second were rare events. The percentage of time that drivers dedicated to the road ahead was not significantly affected by the presence of CEVMS or standard billboards. Rather, the overall clutter and complexity of the visual scene appeared to be the principal driver of glance time away from the road ahead. This was the case regardless of the presence or absence of off-premise advertising. The results suggest that overall visual complexity of the highway environment needs to be taken into account when considering driver glance behavior.
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