An investigation into driver's perceptions of road flooding and adherence to signage

Abstract

Driving into flood water is the leading cause of death during a flood in the UK yet represents an unexplored area of research both nationally and internationally. This paper reports on the findings of two quantitative studies. The first a nationwide survey (N = 185), which sought to determine driver opinions, attitudes and understanding regarding road flooding, including perception of water depth and water speed. This was followed by experiments to determine the relative saliency of dynamic versus static forms of 20 common UK road signs through eye tracking and memory recall tasks (N = 44). This study examines driver's misconceptions of road flooding, lack of adherence to road flooding signage and tests the relative effectiveness of dynamic signage and its relationship to driving experience. The study highlights that traditional flood signage is ineffective – prompting poorer memory recall, whilst dynamic signage demonstrated higher memory recall across all signage tested, with dynamic flooding signage being significantly more effective than the static equivalent for across all demographics.