MOTORIST UNDERSTANDING OF AND PREFERENCES FOR LEFT-TURN SIGNALS

A survey of licensed drivers was conducted at the 1988 Indiana State Fair to determine motorists' understanding of and preferences for left-turn signal alternatives including permissive, protected, and both protected and permissive (p/p) signals, and leading and lagging phase sequences. Survey responses were received from a diverse but generally representative sample of over 400 people. Statistics such as the respondent error rate during the understanding portion of the survey consistently indicated that the survey data were not biased in any substantive way. Several notable results emerged from the analysis of the survey responses. The protected signal was by far the best understood, whereas the p/p was the most often misunderstood. The Left Turn Yield on Green sign proved more confusing than the other p/p sign conditions tested, including the no sign condition. Among signals, the protected was most often preferred, and the permissive proved the least popular. For many reasons, the leading sequence was preferred by more respondents than the lagging sequence.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1990/1281/1281-016.pdf
• Record URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=MOTORIST+UNDERSTANDING+OF+AND+PREFERENCES+FOR+LEFT-TURN+SIGNALS&author=J.+Hummer&author=R.+Montgomery&author=K.+Sinha&publication_year=1990
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/030905060X
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1281, Human Factors and Safety Research Related to Highway Design and Operation. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

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• Authors:
  • Hummer, Joseph E
  • Montgomery, Robert E
  • Sinha, Kumares C
• Publication Date: 1990

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 136-147
• Monograph Title: HUMAN FACTORS AND SAFETY RESEARCH RELATED TO HIGHWAY DESIGN AND OPERATION 1990
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1281
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Comprehension; Consumer behavior; Consumer preferences; Data collection; Drivers; Exclusive permissive phasing; Exclusive phasing; Left turns; Permissive phasing; Surveys; Traffic signals; Traffic signs
• Geographic Terms: Indiana
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00603706
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0-309-05060-X
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 28 1991 12:00AM