Citation

Dewar RE, Ells JG. Transp. Res. Rec. 1974; 503: 38-47.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1974, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to compare three methods of evaluating traffic sign perception. In the first experiment, subjects were required to classify signs according to type and to identify the meaning of the signs while driving toward them under normal highway traffic conditions at 30 mph (48 kph) and 50 mph (81 kph). The distances at which subjects were able to classify and to identify each sign were measured. Two classes of sign, regulatory and warning, were used, and half of each class had symbolic messages while the other half had verbal messages. The second experiment was a partial replication of the first, with certain modifications. The signs were one-third normal size and the subject drove the vehicle at 17 mph (27 kph). The third experiment was a laboratory study in which verbal reaction time required to classify and identify slides of traffic signs was measured. Signs used in the first two experiments were used as stimuli in the third experiment. The results indicated that the three measures of performance were closely related. Signs were classified at a greater distance than they were identified. Performance was better on symbolic than on verbal signs (except for the reaction time measure), and it was better on warning than on regulatory signs. In addition, performance on individual sign messages was highly correlated across the different measures.

Language: en