Non-driver understanding of traffic signs

Non-drivers are obviously road users who do not drive but, as pedestrians or cyclists, they do use the roads. Previous research has indicated that the relatively poor understanding of traffic signs by non-drivers may be due to a general lack of awareness of traffic signs in daily life. However, this proposition has not been investigated. The current study was conducted to examine the hypothesis that: - the more generally aware non-drivers are of traffic signs, the better their understanding of the signs. The understanding and awareness of traffic signs were assessed by means of a multiple-choice comprehension task and subjective rating respectively, for seventy-seven non-drivers and twenty-one Hong Kong traffic signs. The results showed that comprehension scores differed from sign to sign for non-drivers, and for most traffic signs, comprehension performance did not increase with awareness level of traffic signs. Ergonomics recommendations on traffic sign design were derived from the traffic sign comprehension responses of the non-drivers, so as to facilitate the design of more effective traffic signs in the future. © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.