"In 2004, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced its "Interim Approval for Use of Clearview Font for Positive Contrast Legends on Guide Signs," allowing states to change the prevailing font on road signs, Highway Gothic, to a font called Clearview if they chose. Studies suggested that Clearview was easier to read than Highway Gothic, especially in the dark, and about 30 states updated their highway signs as a result.
That "Interim Approval" of Clearview was suddenly terminated on Monday, according to a noticeposted on the Federal Register by the FHWA. This means that any new signs must use Highway Gothic again, though existing signs with Clearview do not need to be replaced as long as they are in good condition.
Among some circles, this decision represents a major lapse in judgement. Studies conducted by the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute and the Texas Transportation Institute found that drivers could read Clearview as much as 80 feet farther away than they could read Highway Gothic, which was developed in the 1940s. The test was conducted at 45 mph, which means drivers had 1.2 seconds longer to read the signs with Clearview font.
"Helen Keller can tell you from the grave that Clearview looks better," Donald Meeker, one of the designers of the Clearview font, told City Lab.
Meeker's firm, Meeker & Associates, worked with the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute to conduct tests on Clearview. As its name suggests, Clearview was designed specifically to be as legible as possible. The primary difference between Clearview and Highway Gothic is that Clearview has larger interstices, or internal spaces, in letters such as the lowercase e, a, and s..."
23 comments:
I did some of the testing for this in Texas. We used an abandoned WWII bomber base and created a roadway system on the runways and taxiways. We then would bring in various test subjects and ask them to read the signs at various distances and typically at night. We did the same to test lane deliniation, which was a bit more dangerous to set up.
Would making signs easier to read make the move to driverless cars much harder than predicted?
Human error is the driverless key selling point. We don't want to go and make the roads safer for humans behind the wheel, do we ;)
I find it highly irresponsible to be encouraging drivers to take their eyes off their smart phones while driving. All these direction signs should be removed and replaced with cute cat photos and eggplant recipes.
The enclosed space in a character is called the "counter." I don't know where they got "interstices, or internal spaces."
To me, the Clearview is clearly more readable.
The biggest problem with driverless cars, is that they will be built by humans who can fuck just about anything up given enough time.
I agree with Bagoh. True enough - I filled the tank up the other day at a Conoco station and MSNBC was on the gas pump television. If our gas pumps can have television, our road signs must as well.
MSNBC, Ellen and texting/living Kardashian is the future of road sign technology.
I fantasize about an APP or some equivalent to CB radios. You would get your unique IP identity from your phone, (your phone would have to be plugged in, I think this would be a juice sucker), and then it acts as an IFF transponder for cars.
It could put you in direct contact with all the cars around you for 1 mile (details to be worked out), and have a filter selections for going in your direction only.
That way, we could communicate in real time, and curse at each other too. I think it'd be fun.
I already have a CB, since I was 14, kicking around all vehicles.
MSNBC, Ellen and texting/living Kardashian is the future of road sign technology.
From the Daily Mail...."Woman known as 'mini Kim Kardashian' found dead by 'mini Kanye West' at Las Vegas home http://dailym.ai/1ZihPI7"
The Kardashians are a dead end.
Surely a reason was given for switching back to Highway Gothic. Without knowing the reason what good can any comment be? Clearview looks slightly more readable to my eye but maybe there was some rationale for going back to Gothic. Story doesn't say what that was.
WTF is wrong with prosecutors and and judges Massachusetts?
http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/21/supreme-court-vacates-massachusetts-ruli
Steg:
"It could put you in direct contact with all the cars around you for 1 mile (details to be worked out), and have a filter selections for going in your direction only."
You mean so cars could sense one another like flocks of birds and schools of fish? That is a great idea.
@bago, so true. What's needed is a chip implanted in our brains that picks up satellite GPS.
Mumpsimus, that got me, too. Interstices should mean space in between.
Ricpic, the reason given is Clearview is perhaps not as effective with black letters printed on white or yellow backgrounds. Or street name signs.
This seems very silly. Those signs look almost exactly alike to me. (Leland, I'm open to persuasion otherwise but ... seriously?) DOT and state DOT likes to spend money (on things other than fixing the roads). In Cali we now have signs at freeway exits for colleges. Not just major institutions but every stinkin' college including extension schools. So you'll be driving along and suddenly you're informed that Fred's College is at the next off ramp. Important information. Not. College kids should not be denied the challenge of actually locating their school using map and compass as we did when I was growing up. J/k. Sort of.
I like the one on the right better.
Amartel, you are absolutely right, it is a stupid and silly thing to fixate over. However, i generally blame government for this kind of egregious safety culture which is fed by the legal liability culture. Then you couple this with the state roads and transportation departments and their ever ballooning budgets, but getting little done with that money other than administration costs, and you can see why something like a font on a sign on a highway becomes a serious 'crisis' issue for the state. It is all a part of the do-something disease that plagues our society at large.
I've driven in other countries which have very different font/size/color signs than we do. It takes a bit of time to get the hang of the signage, what to look for and where to look for it, then you're good to go. The important thing is consistency. You can probably note that when you drive from one state to another; there's often some small, barely recognizable change in the signage.
deborah - Yea, kind of like fish and birds- just we'd have to opt in to the network via phone so there would still be cars without. The cars wouldn't sense you- you'd just be on a real time live chat with all the people around you in a certain radius. The more people volunteer to do it, the better it would be. Or worse when you're densely populated and everyone uses it? Break into street sub channels. It could be a whole new sub industry! SmartCB, they'll call it.
That way when people are riding my ass, I can inquire as to why they think it is a safe traveling distance? Also if they were aware that you cannot go faster than the car directly in front of you? Why did you pass me on the right in the one lane on my right coming up on a merge-on when there are three open lanes to my left? It directly puts communication in real time. "hey, steg here in a black honda civic, I'm going to hit the left lane and go 100mph around this truck line, then back to the middle at 75" and regular traffic rules would not change.
It could make people more human on the road, as you could hear the emotion in people's reactions to your driving- good or bad.
It could also possibly lead to more rage as people argue into a frenzy while driving. But if everyone's carrying, we're all polite! Details, details...
Like I said, an idea which is fantasy for me. Then I go back to trying to get my voice heard through both our cars. One of these days though, I'm going to put an electronic periscope on my car so I can see WTF we are sitting in traffic for.
Then if everyone had my patented car-scope, we could run live feeds so the folks without them can still log in on their phone and get the picture.
Feel free to get rich quick of my ideas, anyone. Just throw me a hat tip someday when you pass me on the streets while I sit and play guitar in my tattered tramp clothes.
Steg, That sounds like a recipe for disaster. It's bad enough having to look at the other people in traffic with you, but having the ability to communicate with them? Seems less than prudent. Especially since people can just roll down their window and hurl epithets for free. And you know the fast-lane slow-drivers would be the ones who forget to turn the thing on, or refuse to do so "on principle," and would just keep blocking the flow as obliviously as ever.
Steg, that sounds fun, yet dangerous:) I confess I have wanted the technology to have messages light up in my back window, especially 'get the fuck out of the passing lane.'
I drive on long trips fairly frequently, a lot at night, and the Clearview really would be a help, I think. I'll have to look next time to see if it's already up on my regular trips.
Amartel - yea, I just have to let my mind wander while I'm stuck in car-jail. Although that is why I also make all my ideas voluntary.
deborah - I have considered cutting out of my trunk and installing those restaurant or sports message blocks with a keyboard up front.
OK but here is the REAL good idea from me to reform driving- I have seen it on youtube I'm not the only one who thought this up:
A light bar across the back of your car which is not lit while you are maintaining speed or accelerating- but which turns yellow when you begin deceleration, and activates red when you engage the brakes.
I notice a lot of people don't pay attention to the people ahead, and are only looking directly in front of them. I don't often go direcly from gas to break- I like to coast and maximize my spent gas (highways). I think a communication light reflecting this is a common sense evolution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5xrmXYluVE
These guys had it so the light is green when accelerating, and the light bar expands/contracts with different speeds. I wish I could just buy this now.
Neat, Steg. In the comments it says this device would be currently illegal to install.
Heh, figures. Got a useful technology that doesn't interfere with current rules and traditions while making everyone's life better?
NOT ALLOWED.
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