The relation between driving experience and recognition of road signs relative to their locations.
OBJECTIVE
Examine how driving experience and expectations affect the ability of experienced drivers to identify traffic signs--specifically, no right turn (NRT) and no left turn (NLT) at intersections.


BACKGROUND
Failure to heed signs is a frequent cause of accidents, and the authors focused on the contributions of experience and expectancy to sign identification.


METHODS
Inexperienced and experienced drivers were connected to an eye tracker system and briefly exposed to various traffic scenes. Some of the pictures included an NRT sign at the expected location (on the right), and some included the same sign at an unexpected location (on the left). The same procedure was used with an NLT traffic sign.


RESULTS
Experienced drivers identified traffic signs better than inexperienced drivers did when the signs were posted at the expected location but identified them worse than did inexperienced drivers when they were at unexpected locations.


CONCLUSIONS
With experience, drivers' expectations regarding the expected location of traffic signs become so strong that violating these expectancies results in more identification errors among experienced drivers than among inexperienced drivers. To optimize experienced drivers' traffic sign identification, signs must be located in accordance with drivers' expectations--specifically, on the right side of the road.


CONCLUSIONS
When signs are misplaced, crashes can be caused by inappropriate placement rather than inappropriate driving. Highway designers should ensure that their design conforms to standards that shape experienced drivers' expectations.
Department of Industrial Engineering and Mangement, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Avinoam
A
Borowsky
David
D
Shinar
Yisrael
Y
Parmet
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001288:Attention; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000592:standards*; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011930:Reaction Time; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors