INVESTIGATION OF NEW TRAFFIC SIGNS, MARKING AND SIGNALS

AN EVALUATION OF NEW DEVICES RECOMMENDED FOR THE 1971 EDITION OF THE MANUAL ON UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES WAS BASED ON TWO MEASURES, RECOGNIZABILITY AND POPULATION STEREOTYPES. THE MEASUREMENT PROCESS SHOWED THAT THE RESEARCHER ON TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES CAN USE ROAD TESTING AND LABORATORY TESTING TO COMPLEMENT ONE ANOTHER. A DRIVER QUESTIONNAIRE WAS USED TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT POPULATION STEREOTYPES, OR THE RESPONSE AN UNTUTORED OBSERVER ATTACHES TO A PARTICULAR DEVICE. WHILE PEOPLE GENERALLY PREFER LETTERED SIGNS TO UNLETTERED SIGNS, THEIR STRONG PREFERENCE IS FOR SIGNS THAT CARRY BOTH SYMBOLS AND LETTERS. UNDERSTANDING AND PREFERENCE DO NOT NECESSARILY GO HAND-IN-HAND. FORTY-ONE PERCENT OF THOSE RESPONDING TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE INDICATED THE NEED FOR STANDARDIZATION IN TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES. /DOT/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • See also Volume 2, PB-213886, published December 1972.
• Corporate Authors:

  Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Incorporated

  ,    
• Publication Date: 1972-12

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Consumer behavior; Consumer preferences; Drivers; Laboratory tests; Measurement; Perception; Population; Road tests; Signs; Traffic control devices
• Old TRIS Terms: Recognition
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Society; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00226685
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Volume 1
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 19 1973 12:00AM