E3S Web of Conferences 65, 09004 (2018)
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ICCEE 2018
Road Sign Detection Distance and Reading
Distance at an Uncontrolled Intersection
Mohamad Ihsan Priambodo1 and Martha Leni Siregar1*
1Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus Baru UI
Depok, 1624 Depok, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Abstract. A traffic sign needs to be located at a distance that allows
drivers to read and understand the message prior to their decision in
manoeuvring. The study is aimed at evaluating signs visibility at
intersections without traffic lights using the drivers reading distance and
detection distance. A total of 35 participants with valid driver’s licences
were asked to detect and read 6 advance guide signs at an intersection
without traffic lights on an urban road. Factors that potentially determine
signs readability and visibility such as vehicle’s speed, vehicle’s travelling
time, signs vertical offset and signs letter height which affect signs
detection distance and reading distance are analyzed using multivariate
regression. The experiment was conducted during night time to present
heavier driving and sign reading environment. The positions of the signs
were evaluated based on the actual sign positions and the detection and
reading distances. Some of the findings include that vehicle travel time,
vehicle speed, sign letter height, and sign vertical offset all significantly
have a relationship with the sign reading distance whilst sign letter height
does not have a significant relationship with the detection distance. The
study also evaluated the signs compliance with the applied standards.
1 Introduction
A traffic accident caused by the less aware driver, most commonly occur at low-volume
urban roads with fewer control tools to notify the drivers of the environment or obstacle
ahead. Traffic signs as one of the control tools on the roads need to be positioned properly
to lower accidents risks. Traffic signs need to be visible and readable to drivers to serve the
safety function especially at night times [1]. When reviewing the sign visibility, many
studies often divide it into two main areas: sign detection and sign reading [1-4]. These
areas are interdependent as drivers cannot read a sign whose presence cannot be detected
and cannot understand the message delivered in a sign if it is not readable from the driving
position [5].
There have been studies on the visibility of signs by various drivers’ characteristics such
as age and gender and by types of retro-reflective sheeting materials performance [1-4].
However, studies on the visibility of signs in regards to the positions still need to be
explored. Sign detectability and visibility are crucial in traffic safety and are part of a self-
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ICCEE 2018
explaining road system [6]. The study was carried out to determine traffic signs visibility
which is characterized by traffic sign detectability and legibility. Indonesia applies the
standard of traffic signs based on the Ministry of Transportation Law No.13 of 2014 on
Traffic Signs [7]. The law regulates the installation and position of traffic signs but does not
set the minimum detection and reading distance. Therefore, this study measures the
detection and reading distance of the traffic signs in reference to Traffic Sign Manual
(TSM) [8] from United Kingdom (UK) and Manual on Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD)
in Federal Highway Administration year 2009 (FHWA 2009) from United States of
America (USA) [5]. In TSM, reading distance is taken from the cut-off distance and the
minimum reading distance of traffic sign cut-off distance is defined as the distance where a
driver is supposedly stopped reading the sign [8], it was taken from the equation below:
C = S x 1/sin (8o) = S x 7.2 (1)
Where C is cut-off distance, S is a vertical offset of a traffic sign, and angle 8o is the
minimum angle of the vertical axis of the sign where the sign should fell [5].
Detection distance is taken from a reading distance plus cut-off distance. It is desirable
to provide a proper detection distance that is equal to or greater than that signs reading
distance [5]. The reading distance is taken from the equation below:
R = reading time x vehicle’s speed (2)
Where R is reading distance, the vehicle speed is the speed of the vehicle when reading
or detecting a sign and reading time is obtained from the maximum time to read an advance
guide sign, 4 seconds taken from TSM [8].
In MUTCD (FHWA 2009), distance legibility is taken from legibility index (LI) of 30
feet per inch of letter height (LI=30). Legibility index means that a sign with 10-inch letters
legible at 300 feet has an LI of 30 ft/in (300/10 = 30) [2, 5]. In this study, LI 30 is used to
determine the minimum reading distance of traffic sign by using its actual letter height
multiplied by 30. Multivariate regression analysis was utilized in this study to find the
influencing variables on the detection and reading distances and the correlations.
2 Research methodology
The survey was performed on an urban road during night time using controlled road
studies. Thirty-five participants were recruited to participate in the experiment and
participants with vision problems were reminded to wear corrective lens or glasses. Factors
such as gender and age were ignored in this experiment. The participants were individually
asked to drive the vehicle while an experimenter sat in the passenger seat [9]. Data recorded
included participant’s detection distance and reading distance of 6 advance guide signs, as
well as vehicle speed and travel time. Smartphone application My Track, which uses Global
Positioning System (GPS), was used in the data collection as in Figure 2. The application
recorded the route taken along with time, speed, altitude, duration and distances. The signs
studied in this research was advance guide signs in accordance with the Ministry of
Transportation Law No.13 of 2014 on Traffic Signs.
The experiment was performed during clear night time (clear weather, no rainy or
cloudy night) to heavier driving and sign reading environment. The vehicle used for the
experiment was a 2008 Honda Jazz passenger car. Also, to help process the data, a
dashboard camera with timestamp was mounted facing towards the participants as shown in
Figure 2. Clear instructions were briefed to the participants to avoid unnecessary errors and
mistakes during the reading. The procedures taken were as follow:
2
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ICCEE 2018
Fig. 1. Experimental route on Jagakarsa Raya, South Jakarta
Fig. 2. A typical advance guide sign, My Track application display, and participant performing the
experiment
• Participants were seated in the driver’s seat while experimenter is seated in the
passenger’s seat,
• The participants were asked to read only advance guide signs along on the
designated route and participants were made aware of the advance guide signs
around 500 metres before the location of the signs.
• The participants were asked to notify the experimenter when the participants
detect and read the signs by saying “can detect” if they can detect the sign, “can
read” if they can read the sign, and “can do both” if they can detect and read the
sign simultaneously.
• This procedure was repeated for a total of six advance guide signs along
Jagakarsa Raya roads.
3
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Sign vertical offset and sign letter height as a sign placement and sign variable that
affect sign’s detection and reading distance were obtained using a laser gauge.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Sign reading distance and detection distance characteristics
From the experimental driving, it was obtained that, sign 6 has the maximum sign detection
distance which is 160 metres and has the longest average detection distance which is 104.86
metres. Sign 1 has the same maximum sign reading distance with sign number 6, which is
100 metres. But, sign 1 average reading distance is 54.86 metres which are longer than sign
6. Sign 6 has the longest average and maximum detection distance. The reading also
indicates that the low-grade retro-reflective sheeting material of sign 6 caused it to have
low visibility, whilst it has been shown that the visibility of sign at night depends on its
retro-reflectivity [1].
The mean values of signs 1, 4 and 6 are comparatively higher than those of signs 2, 3,
and 5. The field survey indicated that the difference could be the result of road geometry
which provides poor sight distance for drivers to detect the signs earlier.
Table 1. Sign reading distance (m) Table 2. Sign detection distance (m)
Sign Minimum Maximum Mean Sign Minimum Maximum Mean
1 40 100 69.14 1 60 120 97.14
2 10 40 28.27 2 20 60 42
3 10 40 24.57 3 20 50 30.57
4 30 90 58 4 60 130 98.27
5 20 50 32.57 5 20 60 43.14
6 20 100 54.86 6 40 160 104.86
3.2 Comparison of sign detection and reading distance with TSM and MUTCD
(FHWA 2009)
Comparing the sign detection and reading distance from the experimental driving with
detection distance and reading distance according to TSM, it was shown that signs number
1, 4, and 6 reading distances exceeded the cut-off distance while signs number 2, 3 and 5
did not. The sign detection distances of signs 1, 4 and 6 also exceeded the reading distance
plus cut-off distance.
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Table 3. Sign reading distance and cut-off distance (TSM)
85 Reading Distance +
Vertical Cut-Off Reading
Sign percentiles Cut-Off Distance
Offset (m) Distance (m) Distance (m)
(km/h) (m)
1 6.22 45 25.59 28 73
2 5.06 36 20.23 22 59
3 5.01 36 22.09 25 61
4 5.18 37 30.70 34 71
5 4.72 34 22.37 25 59
6 5.51 40 26.35 29 69
Fig. 3.1 Comparison of sign Fig. 3.2 Comparison of sign reading
detection distance with TSM distance with TSM
Based on MUTCD (FHWA 2009), it is indicated that only sign 4 has reading distance
exceeding the LI 30 which might be due to the smaller letter height used in sign 4.
However, when the minimum letter height was in accordance with the Indonesian law [7],
the minimum reading distance was measured 54 metres. Therefore, signs 1, 4 and 6
reading distances are found to exceed the 54 m reading distance.
Table 4. Sign Legibility Index
Sign Letter Height (mm) Legibility Index 30 (m)
1 237.74 86
2 181.69 65
3 218.46 79
4 158.66 57
5 186.18 67
6 254.04 91
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Fig. 4.1 Comparison of reading Fig. 4.2 Comparison of reading distances
distances with MUTCD (FHWA with MUTCD (FHWA 2009) using
2009) minimum letter height 150 mm
The reading of signs 2, 3, and 5 do not exceed the distances set in MUTCD (FHWA
2009) when using minimum letter height 150 millimetres according to Indonesia’s Ministry
of Transportation regulation and TSM criteria. The possibility might be due to the geometry
of the road which does not provide adequate sight distances for drivers to detect and read
the sign from the minimum distance according to MUTCD (FHWA 2009) and TSM
criteria. The vertical offsets of signs 1, 4 and 6 are greater than the other three signs.
3.3 Variables correlations to sign detection distance and reading distance
Vehicle speed, sign vertical offset, sign letter height, and vehicle travel time was
statistically analysed. The speed measured is the operating speed which is the 85 percentiles
of vehicles speeds which is also referred to as desirable operating speed [7, 10]. The
analysis was performed using multivariate regression to check the correlations between
variables and sign detection distance and reading distance and to check the effect of its
individual variables to sign detection distance and reading distance. Analysis using
multivariate regression were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 25. The
Pearson’s Correlation and t-test of the regression are shown in Tables 5 and 6.
Table 5. Pearson’s Correlation
Pearson Sign Reading Sign Detection
Sig. Sig.
Correlation Distance Distance
Vehicle
0.297 0.000 0.378 0.000
travel time
Vehicle
0.291 0.000 0.401 0.000
speed
Sign
0.237 0.000 0.207 0.000
letter height
Sign
0.643 0.000 0.613 0.000
vertical off-set
Using the 90% Confidence Interval, it can be shown that the variables are significant
(sig. < 0.05) and correlate in the same direction assign reading distance and detection
distance. The highest correlation is found to be between signs vertical off-set and sign
reading distance. Sign vertical off-set was also the variable which has the highest
correlation with sign detection distance.
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ICCEE 2018
Table 6. T-Test
Sign Detection Distance Sign Reading Distance
C
B t Sig. B t Sig.
(Constant) -174.524 -10.364 0.000 -114.419 -10.375 0.000
Vehicle’s travel time 1.657 9.656 0.000 1.104 6.846 0.000
Vehicle speed 2.675 9.255 0.000 1.025 5.400 0.000
Sign letter height -0.036 -0.599 0.550 -0.089 -2.226 0.027
Sign vertical off-set 33.398 7.610 0.000 27.851 9.627 0.000
The tables contain regression coefficients, standard errors, t-statistics and probability
values. The regression coefficients indicate how much sign detection distance and reading
distance increase with unit increases in independent variables. The t-statistics and
probability values show how statistically significant independent variables are as predictors
of detection and reading distances. From Table 6 independent variables vehicle travel time,
vehicle speed and sign vertical off-set are directly related to both sign detection distance
and sign reading distance in a positive relationship and are significant at the 0.001 level or
beyond. Independent variable sign letter height is not related to signing detection distance
but has a less significant and inverse relationship to reading distance. This finding is quite
unexpected as it indicates that with bigger letter heights, drivers need to get closer to the
position of the sign to read the signs. As the survey was conducted at night time, the
legibility of the signs may also be influenced the letter retro-reflective sheeting materials
performance.
4 Conclusions
The evaluation of sign reading distance and detection distance results in only one sign on
the study area that fulfils all the standard, two signs are sub-standardized to the MUTCD
(FHWA 2009) standard using LI 30. The rest 3 signs are sub-standardized to all referred
standards, a probability being the inadequate provision of sight distance of the road
sections. In addition, some signs are partially obstructed which causes shorter detecting and
reading distances. Further analysis using multivariate regression, shows that in sign reading
distance: vehicle travel time, vehicle speed, sign letter height, and sign vertical offset all
significantly affect the sign reading distance whilst sign letter height does not significantly
influence the detection distance.
This research was supported by Universitas Indonesia PITTA (Publikasi Internasional Untuk Tugas
Akhir Mahasiswa UI) Grant, 2018 contract number: 2475/UN2.R3.1/HKP.05.00/2018.
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E3S Web of Conferences 65, 09004 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20186509004
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