ROAD USER BEHAVIOUR AS A FUNCTION OF FEEDBACK IN THE TRAFFIC ENVIRONMENT

TRAFIKANTENS BETEENDE, EN FUNKTION AV AATERKOPPLING - FEEDBACK - I TRAFIKMILJOEN

In natural surroundings, vision gives man an immediate and realistic percept of space and movement, on the basis of which he is able to move and act without difficulty. A redundant amount of information from the visual field is reliably transformed into a functional percept. In road traffic most information acquired by road users is of the natural type characterized by a built-in feedback - if the information is not obeyed, an accident may result, whereas compliance is rewarded by smooth progress. Modern traffic must however also employ symbolic information (road signs, traffic and vehicle signals, road markings, rules and regulations) which provide no such feedback unless compliance is enforced. Violations (e.g. of speed limits) are in fact often rewarded. Symbolic information should therefore be designed so that some kind of feedback is given. Examples are given of possible ways whereby feedback can be provided, such as road humps for speed feedback, rumble strips for attention feedback and rumble areas for position feedback. One test showed that artificial information can at times be in conflict with natural information, e.g. With regard to the rule prescribing precedence of traffic coming from the right. In such cases symbolic information should be adapted to the natural information. /TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Uppsala University, Sweden

  Department of Psychology, Tradgardsgaten 20
  75220 Uppsala,   Sweden 
• Authors:
  • Helmers, G
• Publication Date: 1977-11

Language

• Swedish

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 30 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alertness; Drivers; Feedback control; Perception; Road markings; Rumble strips; Speed; Speed control humps; Speed limits; Traffic signals; Traffic signs; Travelers; Vision
• Uncontrolled Terms: Artificial; Bumps; Feedback; Position
• Old TRIS Terms: Ambiance (Veh and driver); Driver vision; Highway user characteristics; Precipitation; Traffic marking
• ITRD Terms: 9097: Artificial; 2238: Attention; 1772: Driver; 2284: Education; 9061: Location; 2229: Perception; 551: Road stud; 2849: Rumble strip; 5408: Speed
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00178660
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: Monograph
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 27 1978 12:00AM