Citation

Zhang Y, Harris E, Rogers M, Kaber D, Hummer JE, Rasdorf W, Hu J. Appl. Ergon. 2013; 44(3): 472-479.

Affiliation

Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7906, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.apergo.2012.10.009

PMID

23141432

Abstract

Driver distraction and safety concerns have been identified for new highway logo sign configurations. This study assessed driver perception of logo signs and distraction under nine-panel, overflow-combination, or standard six-panel formats. A nine-panel sign has nine business panels within a single sign; a six-panel sign has six panels within a sign; an overflow-combination consists of a standard six-panel sign and a six-panel sign displaying two different services (e.g., food and gas). In this study, twenty-four participants searched for target food business logos while driving in a high-fidelity driving simulation under each signage condition. Gas and lodging signs were also displayed along the road in conventional six-panel formats. Dependent variables included signal detection, visual attention allocation, and vehicle control measures. Experiment results showed nine-panel signs drew greater visual attention and produced lower average speed than overflow-combination signs, and produced a lower speeding percentage compared to six-panel signs. However, there was no evidence the new configurations (nine-panel and overflow) caused substantive performance changes with safety implications. This study suggested the use of nine-panel and overflow-combination logo signs may be suitable for interchanges where there are more than six qualifying businesses in a category in terms of driver performance and safety.


Keywords: Driver distraction;

Language: en