AESTHETIC PREFERENCE AND PERCEIVED SAFETY IN HIGHWAY DESIGN TREATMENTS: A PILOT SURVEY

This study was conducted to test the hypotheses that the public does indeed have a marked preference for highway design treatments incorporating design principles promulgated by students of aesthetic highway design and that these treatments are also perceived as offering greater motoring safety than those provided by aesthetically more austere design practice. A survey of two groups of subjects, which used paired sketches of alternative design treatments for specific design features, revealed marked preferences in terms of attrractiveness and perceived safety for certain treatments recommended by aesthetic design critics. These preferences were particularly great in connection with elements of horizontal and vertical alignment. Survey respondents generally showed a greater preference for the critics' designs in terms of perceived safety than on the basis of attractiveness of appearance.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1974/518/518-002.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=AESTHETIC+PREFERENCE+AND+PERCEIVED+SAFETY+IN+HIGHWAY+DESIGN+TREATMENTS%3a+A+PILOT+SURVEY&author=D.+NEUZIL&publication_year=1974
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03611981
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Geometric Design. 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.
• Authors:
  • NEUZIL, DENNIS
• Conference:
  • 53rd Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1974-1-21 to 1974-1-25
• Publication Date: 1974

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 11-24
• Monograph Title: Geometric highway and culvert design
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 518
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aesthetics; Alignment; Consumer behavior; Consumer preferences; Data collection; Highway design; Highway safety; Surveys
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00095579
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309023637
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 2 1975 12:00AM