Don’t shoot the messenger: Traffic-irrelevant messages on variable message signs (VMSs) might not interfere with traffic management

Harms, Ilse M.; Dijksterhuis, Chris; Jelijs, Bart; Waard, Dick de; Brookhuis, Karel

doi:10.1016/j.trf.2018.09.011

Cited by 22 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…What is more, the lack of a verbal report to confirm an object’s presence does not mean that the object has not been taken into account. Similar to Fisher (1992) and Harms et al (2018), the current study provides further evidence that objects may indeed guide someone’s behavior without this person becoming aware of said objects. It appears that in traffic, one can act without awareness, and regardless of mode of transport.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 51%

“…In other words, most walking is done along routes with which pedestrians are highly familiar. From car driving studies, it is known that increased route familiarity results in increased automaticity and decreased attention for the road (e.g., Martens and Fox, 2007; Charlton and Starkey, 2011, 2013, 2018a; Harms and Brookhuis, 2016; Harms et al, 2018). Largely unknown is whether the same applies for walking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, disruptions in processing may lead to conditions such as change blindness, inattentional blindness, or the attentional blink (for a review see Lamme, 2018). Participants who act on a stimulus without being able to report on it, might be regarded as “acting without awareness.” In traffic psychology, cases are also known in which participants adapted their behavior to stimuli such as speed limit and route instruction signs, while unable to report about these stimuli (Fisher, 1992; Harms et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Walking Without Awareness

et al. 2019

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Pedestrians are commonly engaged in other activities while walking. The current study assesses (1) whether pedestrians are sufficiently aware of their surroundings to successfully negotiate obstacles in a city, and (2) whether various common walking practices affect awareness of obstacles and, or, avoidance behavior. To this end, an obstacle, i.e., a signboard was placed on a pavement in the city centre of Utrecht, the Netherlands. The behavioral measure consisted of the distance to the signboard before pedestrians moved to avoid it. After passing, participants were interviewed to obtain thought samples, self-reported route familiarity, a confirmation of secondary task engagement, and to assess awareness through recall and recognition of the signboard and its text. In this study 234 pedestrians participated. More than half of the participants (53.8%) was unaware of the signboard, still none of them had bumped into it. Mind wandering, being engaged in secondary tasks such as talking with a companion or using a mobile phone, and being familiar with a route, did not affect awareness nor avoidance behavior. In conclusion, despite being very common there was no evidence that walking without awareness necessarily results in risk. The absence of awareness does not imply any absence of cognitive and perceptual processing. Pedestrians are still capable of successfully avoiding obstacles in their path, even in visually more challenging environments such as a city centre. It is argued that this is because walking consists of highly automated, skilled behavior.

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Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 51%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Walking Without Awareness

et al. 2019

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“…Regarding the overall traffic literature, some previous studies on redundancy have shown that when signs are unfamiliar, the inclusion of a redundant text could improve comprehension of the signs and reduce the time for interpretation ( Shinar and Vogelzang, 2013 ). In addition, there are some mixed results regarding the effect of redundancy in Variable Message Signs, in particular, about whether it reduces compliance with the target detour message ( Thomas and Charlton, 2020 ) or not ( Harms et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signalling Three-Way Intersections: Is Redundancy Better Than Only Mandatory or Prohibitory Signs?

Vargas

Moreno-Ríos

2021

Front. Psychol.

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At intersections, drivers need to infer which ways are allowed by interpreting mandatory and/or prohibitory traffic signs. Time and accuracy in this decision-making process are crucial factors to avoid accidents. Previous studies show that integrating information from prohibitory signs is generally more difficult than from mandatory signs. In Study 1, we compare combined redundant signalling conditions to simple sign conditions at three-way intersections. In Study 2, we carried out a survey among professionals responsible for signposting to test whether common practices are consistent with experimental research. In Study 1, an experimental task was applied (n=24), and in Study 2, the survey response rate was 17%. These included the main cities in Spain such as Madrid and Barcelona. Study 1 showed that inferences with mandatory signs are faster than those with prohibitory signs, and redundant information is an improvement only on prohibitory signs. In Study 2, prohibitory signs were those most frequently chosen by professionals responsible for signposting. In conclusion, the most used signs, according to the laboratory study, were not the best ones for signposting because the faster responses were obtained for mandatory signs, and in second place for redundant signs.

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“…The results indicate that the speed variation is higher when drivers do not understand the content, whilst the speed profile is stable when drivers comprehend the content. Harms et al [ 12 ] try to understand whether DMS traffic-irrelevant content disturbs the transportation network. Collecting the driving behavior of 32 participants in a driving simulator environment, they observe a significant speed reduction due to reading the DMS content.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Choice of speed under compromised Dynamic Message Signs

et al. 2020

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This study explores speed choice behavior of travelers under realistic and fabricated Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) content. Using web-based survey information of 4,302 participants collected by Amazon Mechanical Turk in the United States, we develop a set of multivariate latent-based ordered probit models participants. Results show female, African-Americans, drivers with a disability, elderly, and drivers who trust DMS are likely to comply with the fabricated messages. Drivers who comply with traffic regulations, have a good driving record, and live in rural areas, as well as female drivers are likely to slow down under fabricated messages. We highlight that calling or texting, taking picture, and tuning the radio are distracting activities leading drivers to slow down or stop under fictitious scenarios.

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Don’t shoot the messenger: Traffic-irrelevant messages on variable message signs (VMSs) might not interfere with traffic management

Cited by 22 publications

References 35 publications

Walking Without Awareness

Walking Without Awareness

Signalling Three-Way Intersections: Is Redundancy Better Than Only Mandatory or Prohibitory Signs?

Choice of speed under compromised Dynamic Message Signs

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