DESIGN AND COMPREHENSION OF BILINGUAL TRAFFIC SIGNS

In order to develop a better understanding of how bilingual traffic signs are perceived and processed by road users, a study was designed to objectively evaluate the current range of bilingual sign designs and make recommendations on appropriate message placement principles. The study consisted of three phases: review of current signing practices; literature review; and, development, conduct and analysis of laboratory testing of various bilingual signs. Based on available information, it was decided to use glance legibility as the objective measurement of sign performance. 256 subjects, equally divided into four language sub-groupings, were exposed to various combinations of 13 bilingual sign messages (65 signs in total). The major findings of this study were as follows: (1) Bilingual signs required more reading time than unilingual signs; (2) The dominant language should be located either at the "TOP" of a "TOP-BOTTOM" sign message configuration, or at the "LEFT" of a "LEFT-RIGHT" configuration; (3) Neither the "TOP-BOTTOM" nor the "LEFT-RIGHT" sign message configuration was found to be significantly better than the other; (4) Clear demarcation of the two languages (for example, by a line) significantly improved sign performance, particularly for unilingual subjects; and (5) Use of "pivot" words (a word common to both languages) resulted in poorer sign performance than corresponding fully-translated signs.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transport Canada

  Road and Motor Vehicle Traffic Safety Branch
  Ottawa, ONo K1A 0N5,   Canada 
• Authors:
  • Lesage, P B
• Publication Date: 1981-3

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 51 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bilingualism; Drivers; Legibility; Perception; Signs; Symbols; Traffic signs
• Uncontrolled Terms: Sign legend
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver perception
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00361030
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: TP 3037, HS-032 459, CR 8101
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: May 28 1982 12:00AM