Emotionally Intelligent Roadwork Signage trialled to improve driving safety

Highways England are trialling emotional intelligent signage around roadworks and construction sites, complete with personal and informal messages, in a bid to reduce dangerous driving and accidents on troublesome roads. Messages such as ‘Someone loves you, drive carefully’ and ‘Our dad works here’ have been added to signs surround roadworks on the M1, M3, A21 and A40 to capture the attention of passing drivers and encourage them to drive in a more considered manner.

A spokesperson for Highways England explained that the trial is intended “to improve the customer experience through roadworks”, before confirming that the project will continue for a number of years across a greater number of A roads and motorways, monitoring the response of motorists.

The initial trials have been met with a bit of a mixed response from motorists, automotive experts and psychologists. Dr Lisa Dorn, director of the Driving Research Group at Cranfield University, enthused: “What this does is bring the information to life. It relates it to [drivers] personally.”

“I think it will make drivers process the information more deeply. Research has shown that people tend to ignore road signs because we are confronted with them all the time, and are generally pretty bad at noticing them. This will capture people’s attention, and it’s therefore more likely to have an influence.”

However, traffic and movement specialist, Ben Hamilton-Baillie, is not so enthusiastic about the trial: “It’s a common mistake – assuming that signs can be friendly when they’re clearly standardised.” A handwritten blackboard at a restaurant, for instance, is different “because the receiver understands there is an individual behind it, but when it’s the state or an agency, it has the opposite effect”. Ben continued by declaring the signs to be patronising for passing motorists.

A spokesperson for road safety equipment suppliers, Manchester Safety Services, added: “It will be interesting to see if personalised road safety signs become more prevalent following this trial. It remains important though that the messages remain clear and on-point, offering instant information without distracting motorists.”

The move seems to part of the ‘Wackaging’ trend, involving products with chatty and informal messages on their packaging. Giving products a voice is now a common technique in marketing and packaging – helping to build relationships between stationary objects and consumers.

Whilst this trend may be effective in the smoothie and food markets – it remains to be seen whether it can translate to safety and construction industries. The importance of ensuring that messages are clear and simple-to-follow must be the primary concern of construction crews and road site management – rather than creating an emotional and psychological bond with drivers.

However, by June 2014 there were 24,580 reported killed or seriously injured causalities on UK roads. If signs which create an emotional connection with motorists can help contribute towards a reduced figure over the coming years – we could all be seeing chattier road signs.

 

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