Dont Go Down Tah Road Again Psychology
Hither's a vaguely terrifying thought: every fourth dimension you leave your house, whether you arrive a machine or not, your life basically depends on route signs working properly. You understand which ones are really, really important and which you lot can ignore -- and you usually make that distinction unconsciously, without even thinking about it. It's kind of crazy. Unsurprisingly, there's a crapload of research that goes into traffic signs, and they exhibit a surprisingly deep noesis of man psychology, even if they don't offer sage advice, quote Shakespeare, and sing "Do Wah Diddy."
They're specifically designed then youdon'tpay much attending to them
Information technology might seem logical to take a sign for something this important, you know, spring out and really catch your attention. Why not make stop signs orange or square or with blue flashing lights, to keep drivers on their proverbial toes?
Turns out, signs are standardized not just because of government regulations, but because they're actually much more effective when y'all don't focus on them. A standardized gear up means you'll glance at a sign e'er so briefly, go the message, and and so become back to concentrating on not hitting anyone. At an unconscious level, common road signs function just like brands -- y'all know exactly what to expect, just like you practise when you run into a McDonald's arch.
In fact, some signs exist because it'south causeless y'all'll ignore them completely
This sign, and, well, every sign that tells you at that place'southward another sign coming right up, exists purely to prime your brain, even if you aren't paying attention to it. It's called "cognitive priming" and the point is to increase your concentration and decrease your reaction time. That may seem obvious, but researchers in England accept proven that it works purely on an unconscious level, rather than a conscious one. In other words, y'all don't even have to annals "oh, expect, there'due south a finish sign coming upward" -- y'all'll simply automatically conceptualize its appearance.
Sign makers know yous deliberately speed, even if yous don't realize information technology
You lot know those signs that actually call you lot out when you're speeding? As information technology turns out, those dynamic speed-display signs (DSDS) actually practice work to wearisome your roll. A High german project a few years ago compared reactions to a variety of different electric signs -- ones that show your speed in green or red, versus ones that simply say "tedious" in red. Speeders who saw their number didn't slow down unless information technology was past a certain threshold, considering psychologically, about people are OK with speeding a petty bit. Whereas the big red "slow" sign afflicted nigh every speeder immediately, because they were unsure how much they were over the limit. Why the Us chooses to become with the less effective sign is anyone's guess.
Stick figures in motion send a specific alert to your brain
At that place'south a reason that crosswalk signs show stick-children running or walking -- it unconsciously activates the role of your brain that monitors movement. A brilliant written report came out last year showing that dynamic signs take hold of your attention up to a full second earlier than those with no unsaid motion. They besides outcome in a meaning increase in eye movement as you browse the area for dangers, ensuring a much quicker stop time if some hapless grade-schooler happens to come darting out into the road. Now that's skilful signage.
At that place are then many damn school zone signs because you lot're very, very easily distracted
You forget nearly signs you've passed as soon as something else distracts yous. For instance, let's say you're in a school zone. Yous saw the flashing lights, slowed to 20mph, and then, mid-schoolhouse zone, you caught a red light. Once the low-cal turns green, if in that location'south not a second sign to remind you lot, you lot'll drive off without a intendance in the world -- until in that location's a cop with a radar gun. Statistically speaking, traffic as a whole speeds by roughly one mile per hr in a normal school zone, and over five miles per hour in a school zone later a red light.
Capital letters and abbreviations help boring readers and tailgaters
With road signage, visibility at night and in crappy atmospheric condition conditions is the principal priority. But using capital letters is also a sort of cognitive hack that helps you read faster. Back in the day, when cars were evolving out of the horseless wagon stage, lowercase letters were strictly banned on road signs. Eventually, scientists figured out that the mind processes information faster if there are merely a few capitalized letters interspersed for visual cues... and it's also a lot less, uh, aggressive.
A adequately long listing of allowed and disallowed abbreviations also helps slow readers and anyone whose vision is blocked by traffic (say, if you're stuck behind an eighteen-wheeler). From the ubiquitous "XING" (crossing) to the understandably confusing and now-prohibited "PARK," which meant Parking, but was oft misinterpreted as... "park." God only knows why.
The government just changed the font on route signs... again
Ever wonder what the first standardized font for road signs in the US was? Clarendon. So, Highway Gothic was king for nearly half a century. And from 2004 until literally this month, the font du jour was the bureaucratically named Clearview.
Studies have long shown that Clearview is no ameliorate or worse than Highway Gothic during the solar day -- but something most the lowercase letters beingness too big has a negative impact on how easily you can read at night. And then, beginning on February 23rd, 2016, information technology'due south back to Highway Gothic we go...
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Aaron Miller is the Cars editor for Thrillist, and can exist found on Twitter. He's still waiting for holographic roadsigns.
Source: https://www.thrillist.com/cars/nation/the-psychology-behind-road-signs
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