A LABORATORY EXPERIMENT WAS CONDUCTED TO COMPARE TWO FORMS OF ADVANCE DIRECTION SIGNS IN TERMS OF PEOPLE'S ABILITY TO IDENTIFY THEIR TARGET DESTINATION AND DIRECTION UNDER SEVERE TIME CONSTRAINTS, USING A SIGNAL DETECTION PARADIGM. THE EXPERIMENT WAS PART OF A RESEARCH PROGRAM TO FIND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FORM OF ADVANCE DIRECTION SIGN FOR USE AT INTERSECTIONS OF COMPLEX LAYOUT, ROUNDABOUTS AND SUCCESSIVE ROAD JUNCTIONS IN CLOSE PROXIMITY. IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, A CONVENTIONAL STACK SIGN IN SUCH A LOCATION CONVEYS TOO LITTLE INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THEIR FINAL TARGET DIRECTION (EG RIGHT, THEN RIGHT AGAIN). THEREFORE, THE TWO TYPES OF SIGN INVESTIGATED WERE DIAGRAMMATIC AND A MODIFIED STACK IN WHICH THE CONVENTIONAL VERTICAL STACK FORMAT WAS RETAINED BUT THE ARROW SHAPES, PARTICULARLY THE STEMS, WERE MODIFIED TO REPRESENT THE FULL MANOEUVRE REQUIRED TO NEGOTIATE THE INTERSECTION CORRECTLY. IT WAS FOUND THAT WITH THREE- CHOICE SIGNS THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIGN TYPES, WITH THE FOUR- CHOICE SIGNS, TARGET SELECTION WAS SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER WITH MODIFIED STACK THAN WITH DIAGRAMMATIC SIGNS (A). THE NUMBER OF THE COVERING ABSTRACT OF THE CONFERENCE IS IRRD NO 255423.
Samenvatting