VIRGINIA HIGHWAY SIGNING. PHASE 1. DRIVER AWARENESS OF COLORS AND SHAPES

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO ASCERTAIN, FROM THE DRIVERS POINT OF VIEW, THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF COLOR AND SHAPE IN THE RECOGNITION OF ROAD SIGNS. HIGHWAY SIGNS ARE A COMBINATION OF THREE SYMBOLS - SHAPE, COLOR, AND LEGEND. THE PRESUMPTION IS THAT THE COMBINED USE OF THESE THREE SYMBOLS WILL RESULT IN GREATER DRIVER CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIGNS AND REACTION TO THEM AT DISTANCES WHERE THE WORK MESSAGE ALONE COULD NOT BE PERCEIVED. THE VERY FACT THAT DIFFERENT COLORS AND SHAPES ARE USED IN SIGNING IMPLIES THAT HIGHWAY ENGINEERS MAKE A NUMBER OF ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING DRIVER AWARENESS AND REACTION TO THE SYMBOLIC MEANINGS THAT SHAPE AND COLOR ARE EXPECTED TO CONVEY. THIS STUDY SOUGHT TO DETERMINE THE DEGREE TO WHICH DRIVERS RECOGNIZE THE MEANING OF SIGN SHAPES AND COLORS. SECONDLY IT SOUGHT TO DETERMINE WHETHER SHAPE, COLOR, AND MESSAGE, WHEN COMBINED, CONTRIBUTED TO OR DECREASED DRIVER COMPREHENSION OF SIGN MEANING. SPECIFICALLY, NO ASSUMPTIONS WERE MADE CONCERNING THE POSSIBLE UTILITY OF ANY OF THE THREE VARIABLES IN AN IDEAL SETTING, THAT IS, WHEN COLORS AND SHAPES WERE CONFINED TO USAGE OF A SINGULAR NATURE. RATHER, THE APPROACH WAS TO TEST DRIVERS ON EXISTING SIGNING PRACTICES AND TO DETERMINE THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ART. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  Virginia Highway Research Council

  Charlottesville, VA  United States 
• Authors:
  • Ferguson, W S
  • Cook, K E
• Publication Date: 1967-5

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Color; Drivers; Perception; Shape; Significance (Statistics); Traffic signs
• Old TRIS Terms: Recognition; Significance
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00222687
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 43 pp
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 27 1994 12:00AM