00965565

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/1844-05

http://scholar.google.com...kins&publication_year=2003

Driver understanding of the current U.S. system of yellow-white pavement markings was assessed through a driver survey. The survey was used to evaluate drivers' ability to describe the pavement marking color code, drivers' reliance on pavement marking patterns when interpreting marking messages, and drivers' reliance on pavement marking color when interpreting marking messages. Researchers surveyed 851 drivers in 5 states, with respondents representing 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The survey results indicate that drivers tend to use signs and other traffic as the primary cue to determine whether a road is one-way or two-way. A substantial proportion of respondents had an understanding of the use of marking color to differentiate between one-way and two-way roads, but this knowledge is not the primary tool that drivers use to distinguish the direction of travel on a road. Approximately 75% of the drivers surveyed understood the basic concept that a single broken yellow line separates opposing traffic on a two-lane road. The presence of a solid line (either double solid or solid and broken) in the centerline increases comprehension of directional flow to approximately 85%; more than 90% of the drivers surveyed understood that a solid line (either double solid or solid and broken) prohibits passing. Almost 95% of drivers indicated that passing is permitted with a broken line. The survey results indicate that the yellow-white pavement marking system is better understood than previously believed.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1844, Traffic Control Devices, Visibility, and Rail-Highway Grade Crossings 2003.

English

p. 35-44

2003

Transportation Research Record

0309085799

Figures (3) ; References (11) ; Tables (9)

Color; Comprehension; Drivers; Lane lines; No passing zones; One way streets; Passing zones; Road markings; Surveys; White; Yellow

Broken lines; Solid lines; Two way streets

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Nov 17 2003 12:00AM

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• DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF LIGHT-EMITTING DIODE TRAFFIC SIGNALS BY PROTAN OBSERVERS
• DRIVING SIMULATORS FOR EVALUATION OF NOVEL TRAFFIC-CONTROL DEVICES: PROTECTED-PERMISSIVE LEFT-TURN SIGNAL DISPLAY ANALYSIS
• EFFECT OF VARIABLE-MESSAGE SIGNS IN REDUCING RAILROAD CROSSING IMPACTS
• FORECASTING TRAIN TRAVEL TIMES AT AT-GRADE CROSSINGS
• IMPROVING DILEMMA-ZONE PROTECTION OF ADVANCE DETECTION WITH ADVANCE-WARNING FLASHERS
• LEGIBILITY OF OVERHEAD GUIDE SIGNS WITH ENCAPSULATED VERSUS MICROPRISMATIC RETROREFLECTIVE SHEETING
• NIGHTTIME EXPERT PANEL AND PHOTOMETRIC EVALUATIONS OF UNLIGHTED OVERHEAD GUIDE SIGNS (WITH DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE)
• REDUCTIONS IN TRAFFIC SIGN RETROREFLECTIVITY CAUSED BY FROST AND DEW
• RELATIVE LUMINANCE OF RETROREFLECTIVE RAISED PAVEMENT MARKERS AND PAVEMENT MARKING STRIPES ON SIMULATED RURAL TWO-LANE ROADS
• SUPPLEMENTAL PAVEMENT MARKINGS FOR IMPROVING SAFETY AT RAILROAD-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSSINGS