Conference Proceeding

Assessing the Distraction Potential of Changeable Highway Message Signs

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Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to assess how changeable message signs (CMS) within the right-of-way affect driver behavior and attention. Experiment 1 evaluated whether repeated exposure to irrelevant messages would cause drivers to fail to respond to a safety critical message. Experiment 2 evaluated whether the presence of a driving irrelevant message designed to attract attention would cause drivers to fail to respond to a hazard in the roadway. In both experiments, drivers completed a lengthy (about 50 min) driving simulation in a freeway scenario with CMS every 0.8 km (0.5 mi). Dependent measures were gaze location, response to safety critical message (Exp. 1), and response to spilled load in roadway (Exp. 2). It was found that (1) when headways were short, drivers tend to focus on the roadway and not on a CMS; (2) repeated exposure to irrelevant messages did not cause drivers to miss safety critical messages; (3) salient CMS images (changing faces) did not cause failures to detect a roadway hazard, and (4) the frequency and duration of looks to salient images and travel time messages were similar.

How to Cite:

Inman, V. & Philips, A., (2015) “Assessing the Distraction Potential of Changeable Highway Message Signs”, Driving Assessment Conference 8(2015), 63-69. doi: https://doi.org/10.17077/drivingassessment.1552

Rights: Copyright © 2015 the author(s)