Abstract
Rumble areas are patches of rough, coarse road surface which are designed to produce aural and tactile stimuli inside vehicles with the intention of alerting drivers and when desirable, causing them to slow down. Simulator experiments to find a suitable noise pattern were followed by a study of the chosen rumble area configuration at three sites. A fuller investigation at ten sites throughout great britain showed that rumble areas had no consistent effect on drivers' speeds, but that they may have been instrumental in reducing the number of accidents. (Author/publisher)