TRAFFIC SIGNAGE

AWARENESS AMONGST INDIAN CITIZENS

REGARDING

TRAFFIC SIGNAGE IN INDIA.

COLLEGE: PEARL Academy

DEPT: Foundation Design

NAMES:

Sneha Dias

Rebbeca Singh

Aishwarya Singh

Hunar Dhingreja

Noella Dias

COHORT: 2014-2018

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 07.11.2014

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TRAFFIC SIGNAGE

Letter of Acknowledgement

We would like to express our special thanks of gratitude to Pearl Academy for providing us

the platform to conduct the study and especially Ms. Suhasini Taneja, our subject faculty for

giving us this golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on 'Traffic Signage’ which also

helped us in doing a lot of research and learning so many new things.

We take this opportunity to express our profound gratitude and deep regards to our guide

Suhasini Maam for her guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout this

week, we are really thankful to her.

We are obliged to faculty members of PEARL Academy, for the valuable information

provided by them in their respective fields. We are grateful for their cooperation during the

period of our project.

We assure that all the work is an original document and any references taken from other

sources have been duly acknowledged.

Date: 07/11/2014 Place: Mumbai

Students’ Signature Faculty Signature

Sneha Dias

Rebecca Singh ____________________

Aishwarya Singh Ms. Suhasini Taneja

Hunar Dhingreja

Noella Dias

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CONTENTS:

Sr. No. Chapter Pg. No.

1 Executive Summary 1-2

2 Secondary data analysis 3-6

3 Recommendations 6-8

4 Limitations 9

5 Conclusion 10

6 Bibliography 11-12

Table(s)

3

Table.

No.

Table Pg. No.

2.1 Accident-prone zone

2.2 Statistics on awareness of signage among drivers in Delhi 2

2.3 Risky Behaviour of young adults

TRAFFIC SIGNAGE

CHAPTER 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

OBJECTIVE:

To study about the people’s perception towards info graphics related to traffic signage in India and

understand its consequences.

About 1.24 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes. Road traffic injuries are the

leading cause of death among young people, aged 15–29 years. 91% of the world's fatalities on the

roads occur in low-income and middle-income countries, even though these countries have

approximately half of the world's vehicles. Half of those dying on the world’s roads are “vulnerable

road users”: pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. (WHO Media Centre Mar 2013)

Traffic signs serve as an international language for the world population. This language is represented

by geometric figures – visual images without words. The first traffic signs placed at the side of the

roads existed already during the centuries B.C. and these were the "milestones" erected by the

Romans.

Just as people can 'verbalize' their thinking, they can 'visualize' it. Therefore, graphic visual

representation of data, knowledge or information was made to present complex information quickly

and clearly. These are known as INFO GRAPHS. Traffic signs are a type of info graph that give

instructions or provide information to road users. Traffic signs and road markings are silent speakers

to the road users.

Many different traffic signs are to be seen on the roads. They give advance information about road

conditions ahead. Road markings also give orders, warning or guidance to drivers or riders. Learning

the meaning of these signs and markings and looking out for them when on the road will prove

helpful to drivers. You will not then be surprised by a bend, a one-way street or a junction ahead.

(International Journal of Learning & Development 2014)

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Thus, Traffic signs control the flow of traffic, warn you of hazards ahead, guide you to your

destination, and inform you of roadway services. These signs are in place and have been prepared to

prevent such road traffic accidents. All drivers are expected to understand these signs and it is a pre-

requisite to obtain a license. The fact is these signs should also be understood by pedestrians,

cyclists and in general the common man. (Top Design MAGAZINE-Web Design and Digital Content

2014)

To be effective every road user should know the marking and signs on the road and the meaning

thereof. Otherwise the mere existence of such a sign is obsolete.

METHODOLOGY

Through this report, we will mainly focus on people and their awareness about traffic signs. We will

also collect data about the role that traffic signs play and the impact that follows if they are not

followed. We will also view data that shows information about the relation between accidents and

signs and discuss a few research papers that show how aware people are about the traffic signage in

India.

RELEVANCE

Traffic signage needs to be so ingrained in our collective minds that we follow them instinctively at

all times even as we go about our daily activities. They should direct us, remind us and sometimes

even help us to make on-the-spot decisions whether we are behind the wheel or in front of it. All

signs and specifically, traffic signs, become effective only when people are careful, considerate and

patient.

RATIONALE

Signs have got very prominent role to play in the traffic system and they are made for the safety of

people. Where the safety of the people is concerned, any lack of responsibility can prove fatal.

A National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report revealed that every year road accidents claim more

than 135,000 lives. Of these, 13,000 could have been prevented by simply holding down the brake at

a Stop sign. What many people don’t value, is the importance of these signs. They do make a

difference to our safety and therefore we chose the topic “Traffic Signage.”

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CHAPTER 2

SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS

It has been experienced all over the world that the countries which are undergoing increasing and

rapid motorization face proportionately higher number of road accidents. The situation in India is

somewhat better than a country, which may be at the earliest stage of safety development but still

far less satisfactory than those countries, which have proven records of road safety improvements.

(Draft National Road Safety Policy) The magnitude of road accidents and fatalities in India is

alarming. This is evident from the fact that every hour there are about 56 accidents (about one

accident every minute). Similarly, every hour more than 14 deaths occur due to road accidents i.e.

one death in every 4 minutes. (Road accidents in India 2009)

During the calendar year 2012, Tamil Nadu has reported the maximum number of road accidents

(67,757) accounting for 15.4% of such accidents in the country. Although Maharashtra had the

highest number of registered vehicles in the country, the highest number of deaths due to road

accidents during the years were reported in Tamil Nadu (11.6%) followed by Uttar Pradesh (10.9%),

Andhra Pradesh (10.8%) and Maharashtra (10.0%). The highest cases of road accidents were

reported in Chennai (9,663), which resulted into 8,628 injuries and 1,401 deaths, followed by Delhi

(city) (5,865 cases, 5,563 injuries and 1,527 deaths) and Bengaluru (5,508 cases, 4,527 injuries and

725 deaths), among the 53 mega cities. However, 97.6% accidental deaths in Lucknow followed by

81.2% accidental deaths in Asansol were

due to road traffic accidents. (National

Crimes Records Bureau)

There is a road accident every 80 seconds.

(24 x 60 x 60) / 80=1080 accidents per day.

• One person dies on the road every 10

minutes. (24x 60)/ 10 = 144 persons dead

per day.

• 40.2 % of accidental deaths are accounted from Road Accident.

• Two wheelers contribute 16.4 % of road accidents.

• 93% of all accidents are caused due to human factors.

• 80% crashes involve driver inattention within 3 seconds before the event.

• 30 % talking on phone with 300 % dialing phone.

• 400 % drowsiness. • 28% accidents are rear-end collision. (International Conference on Advances

in Electrical and Electronics Engineering)

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TABLE 2.1 ACCIDENT PRONE ZONE

TRAFFIC SIGNAGE

A study conducted on 102 car drivers in Delhi by Chakrabarty et al aimed at ascertaining the

knowledge of Road Rules and Road Signs among them. The sample was further divided into 76

drivers from Special Police Guard and 49 commercial drivers (taxi drivers). However, level of

education and economic conditions were same in both the group. The main purpose was to compare

the level of awareness between two groups regarding different Traffic Safety Rule and Road Signs.

The questionnaire was prepared in English and Hindi languages. 30 minutes was the average time for

filling up the questionnaire. Overall drivers have shown average and above average level of

awareness 52-77%. (The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM),

2013)

A study conducted by CRRI in Delhi among truck drivers revealed that only 11% truck drivers knew

“No Overtaking Sign”, 5% about “Right of Way” and around 90% of the truck drivers were found to

be ignorant about the road signs, traffic rules and regulations that govern road users for safety. It

was observed only 10% of the drivers had a correct understanding of 50% or more commonly met

signs while only one per cent exhibited 75% or more knowledge level. (Traffic accidents in India

1991; Internal Report CRRI)

OBJECTIVES

To study the awareness of people about traffic signage by focussing on two main points:-

A] Awareness about traffic signage and rules and regulations of road safety.

B] Reasons behind people ignoring the signage and the impact of the same.

A] Awareness about traffic signage and rules and regulations of road safety. (The SIJ

Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), 2013)

TABLE 2.2 AWARENESS OF SIGNAGE AMONG DRIVERS IN DELHI

B] Reasons behind people ignoring the signage and the impact of the same.

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Awareness about White continuous or Broken lines 27 73

Road Sign controlling speed while descending 82 18

Road Sign Major Road Ahead 57 43

Road Sign about Steep decent 84 16

Road Sign about Give Way 61 39

Road Sign about Vehicle Prohibited on Both Direction 74 26

Road Sign about No Crossing 68 32

TRAFFIC SIGNAGE

I) SPEEDING

An increase in average speed is directly related both to the likelihood of a crash occurring and to the

severity of the consequences of the crash.

Some other facts are below:

Pedestrians have a greater chance of surviving a car crash at 30 km/h or below.

30 km/h speed zones can reduce the risk of a crash and are recommended in areas

where vulnerable road users are common (e.g. residential areas, around schools).

Apart from reducing road traffic injuries, lower average traffic speeds can have other

positive effects on health outcomes (e.g. by reducing respiratory problems associated

with car emissions).

We’ve seen them all on national highways. Many drivers ignore the speed limit and drive 10, 20 and

sometimes 30 mph above the speed limit. Speed kills and traveling above the speed limit is the

easiest way to cause an accident. The faster you drive, the slower your reaction time will be if you

need to prevent an auto accident.

Of the 1,411 fatal accidents in 2012, 224 or close to 16% were due to speeding. Another 144 people

were grievously injured and close to 850 people sustained simple injuries in accidents involving

speeding vehicles. Rear-end collisions have claimed 153 lives, and 115 people died after they skidded

and fell. (TNN | Feb 15, 2013, 03.20AM IST)

II) RUNNING RED LIGHTS

When you’re driving, red means stop and in not doing it can lead to accidents. Drivers, in a hurry run

red lights. This causes wrongful death because they often cause side-impact collisions at high

speeds.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that about 6.4 million crashes

occurred on America’s roadways in 2000.

According to the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), around 40 percent of them

occurred at intersections or were "intersection-related."

Red-light-running, which results in roughly 950 deaths and 90,000 injuries a year, is estimated to be

the cause in 92,000 annual crashes. Fatal motor vehicle crashes at traffic signals increased 18 %

nationally between 1992 and 1998. By comparison, a 6% increase occurred at all other collision

location types with fatalities.( America Trauma Society Stop Red Light Running May 2002)

Researchers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) studied police reports of crashes on

public roads in four urban areas. Of 13 crash types identified, violating traffic control devices

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accounted for 22% of all crashes. Of those, 24% were attributed to red-light-running.( Insurance

Institute for Highway Safety, Q&A: Red Light Cameras, November 2002.)

Motorists are more likely to be injured in crashes involving red-light-running than in other types of

crashes. Occupant injuries occurred in 45% of the red light running crashes, compared to 30% for

other crash types. This is due, in part, to the higher frequency of side-impact crashes. According to a

survey conducted by the U.S. DOT and the American Trauma Society, 63% of Americans witness a

red-light-running incident more than once a week. One in three Americans knows someone who has

been injured or killed because of a red-light-runner. ( Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Q&A:

Red Light Cameras, November 2002)

III) WRONG-WAY DRIVERS ON DIVIDED HIGHWAYS

A large proportion of fatalities on divided highways are from head-on collisions. One study found

that such crashes accounted for 19% of all fatalities on four-lane, divided highways.

IV) IMPROPER TURNS

The reason that we have stop lights, turn signals, and lanes designated for moving either right or left,

as opposed to straight, is to prevent major accidents. Most people make improper turns usually due

to sudden changes. To prevent such types of accidents, always look for signs and obey the proper

right-of-way before you make a turn.

V) NIGHT-TIME DRIVING:VISIBILITY, ALCOHOL AND FATIGUE

Nighttime driving: visibility, alcohol, and fatigue. Evidence suggests that, as is the case in other

countries, nighttime driving in India is substantially riskier than daytime driving. Three aspects are of

relevance here: conspicuity of road users, driving under the influence of alcohol, and fatigue of truck

drivers. The available data do not allow us to quantify the individual contribution of each of these

aspects. (Road Safety in India: Challenges and opportunities. Report No. UMTRI-2009-1:1-57.)

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FIGURE 2.4 RISKY DRIVING BEHAVIOUR (The Policy Tree 2009)

TRAFFIC SIGNAGE

CHAPTER 3

RECOMMENDATIONS

Clear and effective traffic signs are essential for the efficient operation of the road network, for the

enforcement of traffic regulations and for road safety.

Traffic signs (including road markings) are divided into three broad types: (Roughan and O’Donavan.

Traffic Signs Manual AECOM)

Information – signs which give directions and distances to destinations or which provide other

information that may be relevant to road users;

Regulatory – signs which give instructions, prohibitions or restrictions which road users must obey;

Warning – signs which warn of hazards on the road ahead.

To be effective, traffic signs must be readily recognised as such and must:

Have messages which can quickly be read and understood;

Be co-ordinated with the geometric road layout so they are conspicuous by day and night; and

Be located far enough in advance of the situation to give sufficient time for the road user to take the

appropriate action.

To help achieve these goals, a combination of consistent message, distinctive shape and colour is

used.

The message may be a legend, a symbol or both.

Standardisation of design, colour, shape, size and location helps to ensure that drivers will recognise

the various classes of sign.

Colour and shape are basic characteristics of traffic signs which are used both by the driver and to

develop artificial traffic sign recognition systems. However, these sign features have not been

represented robustly in the earlier developed recognition systems, especially in disturbed viewing

conditions. (Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation 2006)

Practical sign design for the actual driver population and the appropriate use of symbolic sign

messages and larger alphabetic sign messages is required.

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TRAFFIC SIGNAGE

Traffic signs should be prominent, of appropriate size, at a visible location, noticeable from a

distance and well maintained. The Government and the RTO should devote resources to retain the

visibility and legibility of traffic signs, as well as ensuring that signs remain properly mounted and in

good working condition.

Signs should only be erected where there is a demonstrable need, because unnecessary, incorrect or

inconsistent signs detract from the effectiveness of those that are required and tend to lead to

disrespect for all signs.

Roadside advertising and traffic accidents

From examination of the available accident data and from relevant literature there are four major

ways in which the presence of roadside advertising could contribute to traffic accidents:

• By directly distracting or confusing motorists, including contradicting or detracting from the

effectiveness of formal traffic signs

• By indirectly distracting motorists from the driving task

• By obstructing visibility, e.g. at intersections or driveways

• By presenting a physical obstruction to vehicles moving on or off the carriageway

There is clearly a need for road safety education and it should be directed towards road users, who

are frequently involved and injured in RTAs (e.g. students).

An integrated programme of road safety education is suggested. (Epidemiological Study of Road

Traffic Accident Cases: A Study from South India. Indian Journal of Community Medicine 2004)

(a) Pre-school children may be introduced to the elementary concepts of road safety through stories

involving the animal world.

(b) Primary school children may be given practice guidance on the use of side-walks and road

crossing techniques.

(c) For middle school students - road signs and bicycle riding.

(d) High school students can be taught about reaction time, braking distance, defensive driving and

hazards of alcoholic drinks.

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CHAPTER 4

LIMITATIONS

Our topic ‘Traffic Signage” though seemingly innocuous and mundane proved to be a challenge and

we were flooded with vast amount of information and research not only from studies across the

world but also well planned clinical reviews across the length and breadth of our country.

However, these were a few limitations we faced:

Slow Internet connectivity:

The burst and flood of knowledge was only stemmed by heavy traffic on out internet connectivity. Being a

issue faced by countries all over the world with a lot of statistics, pictorial representations and visuals, most

heavy pdf files could not be accessed and our paper had to be researched on the relatively less graphical

papers.

The Venue of the Research

Being a ‘street-based’ topic a restriction to college premises curtailed our input as it reduced the sample size,

real-life experiences could not be captured and first-hand knowledge that went with interviewing pedestrians,

drivers, road-traffic officers was not set into motion. The result therefore are based on the experience of

others insofar as we could adopt it for ourselves.

Insufficient time

The subject matter of our topic is vast and exploring it requires not only a lot of patience but also a clear

understanding of how people react to traffic signage and road markings. This could be shown well with the

help of a questionnaire but due to a short period of four days the data lacks primary research.

Lack of test subjects

Due to the above reasons of time and restricted area we were unable to distribute our sample questionnaire

also only 30% of the college used a vehicle for driving purposes. Therefore we did not have a sufficient sample

size of test subjects to work with.

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TRAFFIC SIGNAGE

CHAPTER 5

CONLUSIONRoad Traffic Signs are not only important to new car drivers. It is also important for every citizen in the country

to know the importance of traffic signs. Over the years more and more people both on the road and off-road

find these signs very important. This is why the U.S. Department of Transportation–Federal Highway

Administration is strictly implementing these rules and regulations to avoid accidents on the road. And it is a

brilliant initiative started by them that should be followed by India as well.

From this study we can conclude the following:

The basic principles of traffic signs are namely to promote safety and efficiency on our public roads.

The main reason why signs are available on the road is because of SAFETY. Traffic signs make sure that

all the drivers are aware and well informed of the rules and regulations to be followed. These signs

also warn the drivers of the potential dangers that can be encountered on the roads. In the absence

of these signs, accidents may occur more often.

Signage is also important for GUIDANCE. Traffic signs notify motorists of regulations, provide warning

to potential hazards on or near the roadway, and provide needed guidance to destinations. .

Destinations are easily found using the traffic signs that are posted for motorists as they travel the

roadways. Without signs pointing out locations and directions, people would be constantly lost.

EFFICIENCY is another important factor in road signs. Signs ensure cars move at the correct speed and in the

correct direction to keep traffic flowing uniformly.

Road signs give drivers WARNING of potential hazards they may encounter on the road. Signs prepare the

motorist for what they will encounter around each corner. For example, in the hilly areas and ghats of Mumbai

a dangerous narrow road is a common scene. To prevent accidents, warnings in the forms of signs are put up

to let drivers know about the future danger coming up ahead.

Signs also talk about MILEAGE. Signs let people know how far their destinations are. This allows drivers to

equip their cars with enough petrol well in advance to get to their destination. This comes handy when on long

road trips to a new place.

We conclude our project by saying that signs and road markings not only make our life easier but also help us

live longer by preventing unnecessary and avoidable accidents from taking place. This project is necessary

academically but it has also opened our eyes to the numerous signs we didn’t know about and has helped us

to become a more informed citizen of our country.

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CHAPTER 6

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