Evaluating an Advance Warning Sign for Level Crossings

Abstract

Over 90% of the risk at level crossings is a result of the way members of the public can behave when using them. As part of a broader piece of work reviewing signs and signals currently used at public road level crossings in Great Britain, road users’ comprehension of the two level crossing advance warning signs was evaluated by questionnaire survey. Although most road users surveyed understood that both of the signs were about level crossings, the difference in meaning between the two signs was not widely understood. Based on these results and the findings of the wider study, prototype designs were produced for a single sign to replace the two existing signs. These were evaluated by questionnaire survey. The confusion that exists between the two existing signs was eliminated by displaying a single sign. Furthermore, road users found two of the prototype designs to be easier to understand than the current signs. The fact that new designs previously unknown to road users were found to be more easily understood suggests that these new designs are more intuitively recognisable. Work is on-going to carry out further user testing of the new designs.

Keywords: Level Crossings, Traffic Signs, User Testing, Comprehension

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100650