Safety implications of co-locating road signs: A driving simulator investigation

Abstract

Background: As road complexity increases the requirement for number of road signs also increases, although the amount of road side space does not. One practical strategy to address this is to present multiple road signs on the same gantry (sign co-location).However, there is very little research on the safety implications of this practice.Method: 36 participants (mean age = 42.25 years, SD = 13.99, 18 females) completed three driving simulator scenarios, each scenario had a different sign co-location condition: no colocation, dual co-location and triple co-location. Each scenario presented similar information using direction signs, variable message signs and variable speed limit signs, under. Each drive included standard motorway driving (100km/h speed zone) in free flow traffic and one emergency event where a lead vehicle suddenly braked. The scenario order was counterbalanced and the emergency event vehicle varied.Results: Overall, there was no impact of co-locating signs on general driving performance.No significant difference was observed between conditions for reaction time and minimum headway in response to the emergency event. Participants were able to correctly choose their destination whether the signs were co-located or not.Discussion: For the particular configuration of signs tested there is no evidence that colocation negatively impacts driving performance. However, there may be some implications for travel speed and the manner in which the emergency event is responded to. Future work should confirm the findings on real roads. These findings provided support for sign colocation as a practical and safe option for displaying multiple road signs in a confined area.

Road sign vision and driver behaviour in work zones

“…Literature offers a vast body of evidence that eye tracking technology could be exploited to determine how road equipment affects drivers (Costa et al, 2014;Costa, Simone, Vignali, Lantieri, & Palena, 2018;Filtness et al, 2017;Lantieri et al, 2015;Mantuano, Bernardi, & Rupi, 2017;Taylor et al, 2013;Topolšek, Areh, & Cvahte, 2016;Zwahlen, 1995), involving both simulated and real driving environments.…”

Drivers’ Decelerating Behaviors in Expressway Accident Segments under Different Speed Limit Schemes

“…The speed selected for the speed limit schemes was 100 km/h. Moreover, Filtness et al [39] emphasized using a driving simulator to study the impact of the location of the speed limit signs on driving safety, which was slightly different from the content of this study.…”

“…Following the study conducted by Filtness et al [39], a driving simulator was also used to design the speed limit scenarios. The speed selected for the speed limit schemes was 100 km/h.…”

A Review of Driving Simulation Technology and Applications

“…In addition to the aforementioned vehicle design, road design can also be studied and improved through driving simulation. In [139], driving performance is evaluated for different configurations of road signs. A similar work is presented in [140], where audio warnings through differing pavement surfaces (rumble strips) in addition to visual warnings were examined, something that would be costly to create in a physical environment.…”