Driver distraction and performance effects of highway logo sign design

Driver distraction and safety concerns have been identified for new highway logo sign configurations. This study assessed driver perception of logo signs and distraction under nine-panel, overflow-combination, or standard six-panel formats. A nine-panel sign has nine business panels within a single sign; a six-panel sign has six panels within a sign; an overflow-combination consists of a standard six-panel sign and a six-panel sign displaying two different services (e.g., food and gas). In this study, twenty-four participants searched for target food business logos while driving in a high-fidelity driving simulation under each signage condition. Gas and lodging signs were also displayed along the road in conventional six-panel formats. Dependent variables included signal detection, visual attention allocation, and vehicle control measures. Experiment results showed nine-panel signs drew greater visual attention and produced lower average speed than overflow-combination signs, and produced a lower speeding percentage compared to six-panel signs. However, there was no evidence the new configurations (nine-panel and overflow) caused substantive performance changes with safety implications. This study suggested the use of nine-panel and overflow-combination logo signs may be suitable for interchanges where there are more than six qualifying businesses in a category in terms of driver performance and safety.

► This study addresses driver distraction concerns identified for new highway logo sign format.
► Nine-panel signs drew greater visual attention and produced lower speed than overflow signs.
► The off-road attention to the new sign formats did not cause substantive changes in performance.
► Nine-panel signs led to conservative driving style compared to standard six-panel signs.