ABSTRACT
DRIVERS' RESPONSES TO CHANGEABLE M ESSAGE S IGNS OF DIFFERI N G M ESSAGE LENGTH AND TRAFFIC CONDITIONS
Jose H . G u e rrier1 J erry A. Wachtel2
Donald L. B u d enz3
10ept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami School of Medicine, 1 695 NW 9th A venue, Miami, FL 33 136
2 The Veridian Group, Inc. , 567 Panoramic Way, East Cottage, Berkeley, CA 94 704
3Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine, 900 N. W. 1 7th Street, Miami, FL 33 136
I ntrod uction and Backg rou nd
Method
g
We used a low-cost, i nteractive d riving s imu lator developed by Time Warner I nteractive S i m u lation P rod ucts and The Verid ian G rou p , I n c . , supplemented with a flat-screen video mon itor p laced above the s imu lator's main d isplay. While the s i m u lator presented interactive road and traffic con d itions in real t ime, incl u d i n g static s i g n s , the supplemental monitor presented t h e experimental e M S . Seventeen you n g d rivers (25-53 years o l d ) and 1 8 older d rivers ( 5 5 and o lder) d rove the s imu lator under one-phase and two-phase eMS p resentat ion cond it ions. They were asked to respond to i nformation on road closure/detou r i nformation presented (F ig u res 1 & 2 ) . T h e two e M S used i n th is study were developed in accordance with widely accepted g u idel i nes (Dudek, 1 99 1 ; M UTe D , 2000) and were reviewed for content by independent State DOT experts . Each panel had a maxim u m of three l ines, no l ine exceeded twenty characters, and a l l characters were capital ized .
