Improving the Conspicuity of Trailblazing Signs for Incident Management

摘要

This report represents efforts to design and evaluate a new sign design foremergency route trailblazing in a two-part series. Study 1 was an off-road field experiment conducted to determine the best sign color combination, letter strike width, and letter size for the emergency sign. Based upon the results of that first study, three color combinations were chosen for testing (black on coral, black on light blue, and yellow on purple) against a baseline color combination of black on orange. The test signs to be further tested featured D series, 125-mm (5 in) height letters. Study 2 was conducted using an instrumented vehicle and survey questionnaire through a construction zone-related detour. The independent variables of interest were sign color combination, age, and visibility condition. The findings of Study 2 indicated that use of a color combination other than the traditional organic background with a black legend will improve driver performance and safety when used trailblazing during critical incidents.