Motorcyclists’s Comprehension of Traffic Signs: A Case Study of Phuket, Thailand

Abstract

A lack of comprehension of traffic signs was one of the causes of driver's traffic problems in Southeast Asia. Traffic signs were installed on roads to facilitate and enhance safety for road users, but the success of traffic signs installation depends on drivers’s comprehension. According to road traffic accident statistics, motorcycles had the highest proportion of road traffic accidents. This research studies motorcyclists’s comprehension of traffic signs both local people and foreign tourists. The data was collected by questionnaires and personal interviews in group of motorcyclists in Phuket. Results indicate that local motorcyclists had a higher level of comprehension of traffic signs than foreign tourists. A set of significant factors affecting the level of traffic sign comprehension consist of age, nationality, motorcycle driving license ownership and motorcycle driving experience. In addition, results indicate that local motorcyclists had the highest comprehension of traffic sign format that shows symbol and thai text and foreign tourist motorcyclists had the highest comprehension of traffic sign format that shows symbol and bilingual text but traffic sign format that shows only text was format that both of motorcyclist groups had the lowest comprehension. Findings would help road safety authorities to understand problematic traffic signs on motorcyclists’s comprehension and use it as a guideline for traffic sign designing that make motorcyclists understand traffic sign better.