Not alone effectiveness of auditory pavement treatments on drivers' compliance to the roadside safety signs - a driving simulator study
[Thesis]
Salah Uddin Momtaz
Kang, Min-Wook
University of South Alabama
2015
81
Committee members: Islam, Samantha; Wang, Bin
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-339-28782-9
M.S.C.E.
Civil Engineering
University of South Alabama
2015
Roadside safety signs are used to inform drivers about different traffic information. These signs play a vital role in traffic safety by influencing drivers' behavior positively. However, due to limitations of human beings' on information processing and driver distractions, people frequently do not recognize safety messages on the signs. This study focused on an engineering way to reduce driver distractions and help them to recognize the safety messages effectively. A driving simulator was used in this study for testing drivers' compliance with roadside safety messages with two engineering methods, namely auditory pavement treatment (APT) and dual posted signs (DPS). This study described a laboratory setup and data collection for the driving simulator study. It finally drew conclusions on drivers' compliance with respect to three different driving simulator experiment scenarios with and without of APT and DPS. Study results show that APT is effective as an engineering supplement of roadside safety signs (such as regulatory, warning, and guide signs) to improve drivers' compliance level to the signs.