TRAFFIC CONTROL BY MEANS OF ARROWS AND CIRCLES. A REVIEW OF 'A STUDY OF DIRETIONAL TRAFFIC LIGHTS'

IT IS OFTEN NECESSARY IN MODERN DRIVING TO DECIPHER THE MEANING OF A COMPLICATED TRAFFIC SIGNAL DISPLAY. IN THIS SET OF EXPERIMENTS, PEOPLE WERE TOLD WHICH ONE OF THREE DIRECTIONS THEY WISH TO TAKE (RIGHT, LEFT, OR STRAIGHT AHEAD) AND WERE THEN ASKED WHAT A GIVEN TRAFFIC SIGNAL DISPLAY TOLD THEM TO DO (DO NOT DO IT, DO IT, PREPARE TO DO IT, OR PREPARE TO STOP DOING IT). A GIVEN DISPLAY LASTED FOR ONLY THREE SECONDS. THE SUBJECT WAS THEN ASKED WHICH ONE OF THE FOUR POSSIBILITIES HAD BEEN INTENDED (HE WAS ALLOWED TO CHOOSE "I DON'T KNOW"). UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF THESE TESTS, COMBINATIONS OF ARROWS AND SOLID CIRCLES TENDED TO BE MORE CONFUSING THAN ARROWS ALONE. THERE WAS MUCH MORE CONFUSION WHEN A "CAUTION" TYPE OF SIGNAL WAS INVOLVED. THE HIGHEST RESPONSE CONSISTENCY WAS ABOUT 95%; THE LOWEST WAS ABOUT 35%, INVOLVING "PREPARE TO STOP." /BPR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 3, pp 39-48
• Corporate Authors:

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Authors:
  • Bryant, J F
• Publication Date: 1968-9

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arrows (Signals); Circles; Communications; Design; Direction signs; Evaluation; Standardization; Traffic signals; Traffic signs
• Old TRIS Terms: Arrow (Traffic control); Directional sign; Traffic sign design
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00225703
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Traffic Systems Reviews & Abstracts
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 1 1970 12:00AM