ON-PREMISE SIGN LEGIBILITY AND ILLUMINATION

On-premise commercial signs play an important role in the driver way-finding task. A need clearly exists to determine the effects that characteristics such as illumination, offset, color, typeface, sign style, and size have on on-premise sign visibility and traffic safety from a scientific perspective. This study assessed the performance of four nighttime illumination technologies commonly used by on-premise sign advertisers. Forty participants aged 30-45, 32 aged 65-74, and 20 aged 75 and older completed a daytime and nighttime field investigation with four different combinations of text and background color. Each participant had a visual acuity of 20/40 or better. The goal was to determine the impact of the technologies on legibility distance using two fonts commonly used for on-premise sign letter styles. Recognition and legibility distances for each font, color, and illumination technology combination under day and night conditions were measured. The objective of the study was to provide useful information to sign design practitioners that can be readily applied to on-premise sign design.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Conference proceedings available only on CD-ROM.
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Kuhn, B T
  • Garvey, P M
  • Pietrucha, M T
• Conference:
  • Transportation Frontiers for the Next Millennium: 69th Annual Meeting of the Institute of Transportation Engineers
  • Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Date: 1999-8-1 to 1999-8-4
• Publication Date: 1999

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 15p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adults; Aged drivers; Businesses; Daylight; Design; Field tests; Guide signs; Human factors engineering; Illuminated traffic signs; Legibility; Lighting; Night visibility; Signs; Technology assessment
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver recognition
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00770199
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Publication No. CD-006
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 14 1999 12:00AM