SEARCH AND ATTENTION CONSPICUITY OF ROAD TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES

It is argued that conspicuity cannot be regarded simply as an object property determined by the physical properties of the object and its background but that the state of arousal and attention of the observer must be taken into account. Two kinds of conspicuity are defined: attention conspicuity, which is the capacity of the target object to attract attention when the observer's attention has not been specifically directed to the likely occurrence of the target object, and search conspicuity, which refers to the ease with which a target object is located when the observer is directed to search for it. A field trial was conducted to estimate the attention and search conspicuity of road traffic control devices. The two measures were correlated and related by a curvilinear function such that search provided greatest gains for objects of low attention conspicuity and least gains for objects of high attention conspicuity. The road environment is shown to have a profound effect on both kinds of conspicuity such that conspicuity is least in shopping centres and greatest in residential roads. It is argued that this is most likely due to visual clutter rather than increased pre-occupation with the driving task in arterial and shopping centre roads. Increasing the size of the traffic control devices, the use of colour and the use of symbolic rather than alphanumeric graphics are shown to be associated with enhanced conspicuity. (Author/TRRL)

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• Availability:
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• Corporate Authors:

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Authors:
  • Hughes, P K
  • Cole, B L
• Publication Date: 1984-3

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 1-9
• Serial:
  • Australian Road Research
  • Volume: 14
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: ARRB
  • ISSN: 0005-0164

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alertness; Color; Contrast; Design; Drivers; Environment; Field tests; Highways; Human factors; Legibility; Perception; Residential areas; Road markings; Shopping centers; Symbols; Tests; Traffic signals; Traffic signs; Visibility
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver perception; Traffic sign design
• ITRD Terms: 2238: Attention; 562: Carriageway marking; 6784: Colour; 6794: Contrast (visual); 2455: Environment; 2755: Highway; 6226: In situ; 540: Legibility; 583: Symbol; 6255: Test; 553: Traffic sign; 565: Traffic signal; 6783: Visibility
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00389003
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Oct 30 1984 12:00AM