Variable message signs. An example of information for motorway users: Physical and psychological experiments. Signalization à messages variables: Un example d'information des usagers sur autoroutes: Expérimentation physique et psychologique.

A large- scale prototype operation, called palomar, intended to inform the driver in real time of the immediate obstacles and dangers of the traffic on the Paris- Lyon- Marseille motorway axis is described. The system enables variable- message optical- fibre panels capable of presenting several types of message (road signs, pictograms, text, etc) to be remotely controlled. The data are acquired by means of a dialogue between an operator and a microcomputer.