Human Factors in Road Traffic

And Road Signs

Introduction
Road safety engineering works by influencing human
behaviour
The road safety engineer must have knowledge of
some of the fundamental aspects of the human factor
in the road traffic system so he/she can design
effective control and traffic management strategies
Basic aspects of the human factor are presented here

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Outline:
1) The road user (human) in the road traffic
system
2) Information processing
3) Visual characteristics
4) Road user information needs
5) Road Signs: Signs, Signals and Pavement
Markings (With emphasis on Signs for PWD)
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 1) The Road User in the
Road Traffic System
The road traffic system consists of the road use, the
vehicle, the road and the control system
Equilibrium of the traffic systems depends much on
the actions of the road user
The road and traffic engineer must have accurate
knowledge of the road user characteristics (capacity
and behavioural)
This helps in the design of the system and
understanding how to influence human behaviour

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A forgiving environment is essential to prevent
serious injury when road users (RU) make mistakes
Mistakes can be minimized by
controlling the rate of decision making to that which
humans are capable of accommodating
The information presented to RUs in way that
facilitates rapid and correct decision making
Much of traffic engineering (e.g. TCD – Signals, signs
and pavement markings) aims at helping RUs travel
safely
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Road users are not homogeneous in their
characteristics:
Experienced vs Inexperienced and
Older drivers with deteriorated visual acuity and
information processing capability
Show substantial differences in their response and
thus there is a need to design for a range of human
characteristics and a distribution of responses

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Inexperienced drivers:
Have difficulty in judging speed, distance and
reaction time
Tend to concentrate on near objects
Make less effective driving decisions
Underestimate the risk of crash involvement
Have difficulty in integrating information
Fixating their eyes at objects for too long

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Older drivers on the other hand:
Visual acuity and information processing has
deteriorated
Have tough time where rapid decision making is
required – at intersections – increase sight distance
Takes longer for them to process information from TCD
Difficulty at night – glare recovery
Get tired more quickly
They make adjustments in behaviour e.g. route choice,
time of travel, choice of speed, seek longer gaps in
traffic – therefore not over-represented in RTC

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Pedestrians and PWD
Walking speed differences among the younger, older,
sick and PWD

Longer reaction time to signals for older drivers

 Need for audible signal at signalized intersection

etc

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2) Information processing
Driving task consists of navigation (trip planning and
route following), guidance (following the road,
following safe path) and Control (speed control,
steering)
The driving task require the driver to receive visual
and other information, process the information and
predict alternative action, take the most appropriate
action and observe effect through receiving new
information

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Usually crashes are clustered in locations where
drivers are required to process information beyond
their capabilities- the road design is deficient –
beyond human capabilities
The designer must avoid sudden imposition of
information demand and limit the amount of
information presented
Require series of simple decisions
Do not violate driver expectation

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Provide enough time for the road user to respond –
perception reaction time must be adequate

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3) Visual Characteristics
About 90 percent of the information used
by the driver is visual
Other information is audible, tactile (touch
– vibration), vestibular (affecting balance),
sometimes smell
It is important for the traffic engineer to be
aware of the visual characteristics of the
human
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Visual field
For reading visual field is limited to three to 10
degrees
Objects: signs and signals within 12 degrees of the line
of sight can be seen and understood
Objects can be detected within the peripheral vision
90 degrees left and right
As speed increases the field of visions narrows since
the driver focuses far ahead

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Driver needs to turn his/her head in order to detect
objects outside the cone of vision: warning or control
signs or presence of other stimulus motivates him/her
to do so

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Implications to traffic design:
TCD must be within driver’s field of view
Drivers need to be alerted to the presence of
uncontrolled intersections
Particular attention (warning) need to be paid to
railway crossings without signals
TCD must be separated in time since the eye can
complete one to two fixations per second
Separation of about 30 m is desirable for speed of
about 100 km/hr

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Visual disabilities
About 2.5 percent of the adult male population has
colour impaired vision: cannot distinguish any three
colour combination! Others need higher intensity of
the red signal
Some people experience blurred vision: legibility
distance is reduced
The implications are: The need to place signals in a
standard fashion, the intensity of traffic signals and
the size of traffic signs and the letters

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4) Information Needs of Road Users
Safety and efficiency of the road traffic system
depends on successfully conveying of information
to drivers to aid them in their navigation, guidance
and control tasks
In relation to the traffic control information, the
main needs of the road users include:
Conspicuity: the sign must be seen
Legibility: Readable message
Comprehensibility: message understood
Credibility/respect: message perceived to be
true/reasonable
Adequate time for response: Perception-reaction time

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a) Conspicuity
The visual sign must be recognizable against its
background. Factors affecting conspicuity include:
Size: the larger the size the better
Brightness: the brighter the sign the better
Boldness: larger, bold letters are more conspicuous
Edge sharpness: a line around the edge of the sign
Contrast: High contrast – esp contrast in brightness
Visual simplicity: a simple background is better
Eccentricity: must be within the cone of vision – about
six degrees from the line of sight
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The requirement for conspicuity and the factors affecting it have
implications to road safety engineering and traffic engineering
practice:
The requirement influences:
 Size, colour, layout and location of traffic signs,
 Legislation for control of road side advertizing,
 Reflectorization of signs,
 Illumination of (direction) signs
 Road works signing and work site protection and
 Promotion of yellow raincoats for pedestrians and brightly
coloured vests for road maintenance crews

 Question: Does the requirement for conspicuity have

any influence on white the Traffic Police wear (White
clothes and yellow/striped jackets)?

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b) Legibility
For a visual sign to be legible, sufficient detail within
it must be sufficiently visible to allow its message to
be interpreted
Increasing the size of the sign increases legibility
distance which allows the driver more opportunity to
observe and read the sign
Direction signs necessarily contain a lot of
information and are therefore larger

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c) Comprehensibility
If the driver does nor perceive the importance of the
sign otherwise it will be ignored
The driver must perceive that the sign affect his/her
well being
Standard shapes, colour, recognizable legend/
symbols
The country follows the UN convention (Vienna
convention) and agreements in the trading blocks:
EAC and SADC

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d) Credibility / command respect
To what extent do the drivers believe that the Traffic
Control Device (TCD) is true, refers to them and non-
compliance have consequences (penalty/affect their
safety)
Uniformity in application of TCD and enforcement
where appropriate promotes credibility and respect of
TCD and therefore efficiency and safety of the road
traffic system

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To aid credibility and promote respect for the TCDs,
The traffic Engineer must ensure that:
The use of TCD is strictly in accordance with
current practice as set out in the national
standards/guide/ code. This means he/she must
ensure:
The TCD is credible/true/ needed in its context
The TCD selection, colour and shape conforms to
the national code
The application of the TCD is uniform / consistent

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He must avoid unnecessary use of a TCD, remove
those TCDs that are no longer relevant (once road
works are completed, remove the road works signs)
Avoid the use of un-necessarily restrictive signs e.g.
do not use stop sign where a yield sign is adequate
Consistent display of important messages: Consistent
use of direction signs, repeated display of speed limit
signs, advisory speed signs should be realistic et

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e) Give adequate time for response
Warning signs should be placed well ahead of the
danger being warned about but not too far the driver
will forget – say 100 200 m away depending on driving
speed
Perception-reaction time should be taken into
account

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Inclusion of the new PWD road
signs into the current practice
There is awareness of the need of the signs among the
PWD community leadership
Advocacy has been done successfully to the highest
office in the land
Some of the signs have been displayed on some
critical locations in DSM
Signs are yet to be included in the national code
(Guide to road signs – reference for engineers, The
Highway Code – reference for driving schools, Road
users)
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Therefore what is needed is:
Updating of the national code
Raising awareness among professionals,
Traffic Police, Driving Schools
Public Information campaign: using the
media, etc
So advocacy still have some work to be
done: lobbying / pushing
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5) Revised Road Signs Schedule
with Emphasis on Signs involving
PWD

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Road Signs
Groups of road signs
Regulatory
Warning
Guidance
Information
Example of Regulatory signs:
Control
R1
Stop
 
Example of Regulatory signs:
Command
R101.

Minimum speed End of Command

Example of Regulatory signs:
Prohibition
R214
No – Overtaking for all vehicles,
End of Restriction to overtake
Example of Regulatory signs:
Reservation
R360
Pedestrian (zebra) crossing
R323-P
Disabled Persons Vehicle Parking
Example of Regulatory signs:
Supplementary (to regulatory
signs)
(R)501
One Time Period
Warning Signs
Alerts drivers about the presence of a feature or
situation that may require their change of behaviour
for example: to reduce speed
Road signs Advising Drivers about
the Presence of PWD
Types of PWD warned about:
Reduced mobility
Hearing / Deaf
Vision: Blind / extreme vision impairment
Mental impairment
(a) Reduced mobility
W306.1
Pedestrian with a physical impairment (reduced
mobility) crossing ahead
b) Visually impaired
W306.2
Visually impaired pedestrians crossing ahead
c) Extreme Vision Impairment
W306.3
Pedestrians with Serious visual impairment crossing
ahead
d) Pedestrian
W307
Pedestrians ahead

f) Hearing Impaired Pedestrian
W307.1
 Pedestrians with hearing impairment ahead
g) Pedestrian with mental
condition
W307.2
Pedestrians with mental health conditions ahead
h) Children
W308
Children
i) Bicycle
W309
Cyclists
Guidance Signs
GFS B5-9 - Facility for the handicapped
GFS B6-3 - Rest and service area
Information signs
IN16 : Bus Stop Ahead
Pavement Markings
RM11 Zig Zag Zone Line on approach to zebra
crossing. Do not stop except to let pedestrian cross.
Summary: Signs for PWD still
missing (PWD Act 2010 48(3)
Older pedestrians ?

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