INFORMATION SIGN COLOR EVALUATION USING A VIDEO PRESENTATION (ABRIDGMENT)

Signs that provide guidance or navigational information to the motorist are color coded green to facilitate rapid identification and to ensure a clear and unambiguous meaning of the nature of the information. The green color code is not always mandatory at night. The sign backgrounds may have nonreflective green backgrounds that appear black at night unless separately lighted. A laboratory method of evaluating the effectiveness of the green nighttime sign color is presented. This method isolates only the variables of interest--the effectiveness of white-ongreen versus white-on-black as a means of providing attention value or target value. The method described uses a video presentation of six identical pairs of highway scenes in which only the color of the guide sign varied. Scenes were presented for a time period of 3.5 seconds, which is comparable to detection and recognition models. The sequence was shown to 313 subjects--all licensed drivers representing all age groups at a variety of locations nationwide. The analysis of results indicated that greater scene complexity and increasing driver age contributed to an increased error rate for both color combinations. There were fewer errors in the recognition and identification of the white-on-green guide signs than the white-on-black signs. For a combination of scenes, this accuracy was 3.2 times greater for the white-on-green signs and is attributable to the green night color of the signs.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1984/996/996-002.pdf
• Summary URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=INFORMATION+SIGN+COLOR+EVALUATION+USING+A+VIDEO+PRESENTATION+(ABRIDGMENT)&author=H.+WOLTMAN&author=R.+Stanton&author=R.+Stearns&publication_year=1984
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• 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. Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on User Information Systems.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

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  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • WOLTMAN, H L
  • Stanton, R H
  • Stearns, R A
• Publication Date: 1984

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 2-6
• Monograph Title: MOTORIST INFORMATION NEEDS AND VISIBILITY FACTORS
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 996
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Color; Driver information systems; Driver performance; Drivers; Guide signs; Night visibility; Personnel performance; Simulation
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00450252
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309038057
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-038 907
• Files: HSL, TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Nov 30 1985 12:00AM