A STUDY OF LATERAL SIGN PLACEMENT

SAFETY STANDARDS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED THAT REQUIRE THE EDGE OF SIGNS TO BE MINIMUM OF 30 FT FROM THE EDGE OF THE TRAVELED WAY. A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT ON LEGIBILITY OF SIGN MESSAGES AT A LATERAL DISTANCE GREATER THAN THAT OF THE EXISTING STANDARDS. EXPRESSWAY DRIVING ON AN AVAILABLE FACILITY WAS SIMULATED DURING THE HOURS OF DARKNESS. SIGNS WERE PLACED AT THE EXISTING STANDARD OFFSET DISTANCE AND AT TWO DISTANCES GREATER THAN THE STANDARD. FOUR SIGN SIZES WERE USED AT THE VARIOUS LOCATIONS. THE DATA OBTAINED WERE EVALUATED ON A PERCENTILE BASIS AND COMPARED WITH COMPUTED LEGIBILITY DISTANCE AND BY LOCATION AND SIZE. RESULTS INDICATE THAT A LARGER LEGEND SIZE IS NECESSARY IF OFFSET IS INCREASED. A RECOMMENDATION IS MADE TO INCREASE THE LEGEND SIZE IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE OFFSET DISTANCE WHEN SIGN-STANDARD DRAWINGS ARE REVISED. /ARTICLE/

• Record URL:
  https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/sr107/sr107-021.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • 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:

  Highway Research Board (HRB)

  Washington, DC   
• Authors:
  • Dougan, Charles E
• Conference:
  • Second Western Summer Meeting
  • Location: Salt Lake City Utah, United States
  • Date: 1969-8-11 to 1969-8-13
• Publication Date: 1970

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Pagination: p 181
• Monograph Title: Highway safety
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Special Report
  • Issue Number: 107
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Design; Expressways; Lateral placement; Legibility; Traffic signs; Visibility
• Old TRIS Terms: Traffic sign design
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220867
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jul 14 1970 12:00AM