Abstract:
Perceiving and making sense of the situation, deciding how to respond best given the driver's
knowledge and goals, and taking action are all steps in the driving process. Only when users
comprehend the meaning of traffic signs is effective. The study aims to determine which
parameters played a significant impact in driver’s knowledge of traffic control devices, to
look into their compliance with specific signs and markings as well as related offences on a
specific road segments of Meskel square. . The comprehensiveness of traffic control devices
is examined in this research, along with the effects of parameters linked to the road, the
vehicle, and the driver.
The Questionnaires distributed to a total of 385 drivers selected by random sampling, of
which 92.2% returned, who have been driving in different vehicles and to 85 traffic polices,
who have been in charge of regulating traffic flow in assigned roads & traffic management
officers with return rate of 88.2percent .For the purpose of evaluating drivers'
comprehending, A4-sized colorful graphic printouts of each sign and mark were employed.
These questionnaires examine respondents’ comprehension of 8 regulatory traffic signs 3
traffic signals and 6 road markings.
The statistical analysis at 5% significance indicates that the variables of road elements ,
placement of signs, kilometer coverage, education level, way of training, simultaneously
bring a significant effect on the obtained score for the respondents’
comprehension(p<0.05).Results indicate that the level of perceptions and awareness
regarding road sign and markings were found to be different among different type of vehicle
drivers. Based on the response provided by the respondents, it is revealed that 44.4% of the
respondents has the correct comprehension of the traffic signs which shows comprehension
is inadequate. .In addition, respondents could only comprehend road signs to some extent,
e.g. traffic signs such as no entry (21.16%) and no waiting signs (23.54%) seemed to be
difficult to understand from driver’s perspectives. Road markings with solid line and broken
line have understanding rates that are the greatest (74.87% and 67.7%, respectively). Given
how frequent and prominent these road markings are on roads, these high percentages could
be explained. Drivers' excuses for misinterpreting and violating the signs included lack of
knowledge with the signs, defective devices, and speeding. In the correlation analysis the
study founds there is a very high association in violation of No u turn(r=0.88), No
overtaking(r=0.845) and Speed limit signs(r=0.902) with accident rates. As a result of a
review of the signs at the study's site, the study strongly suggests engineering judgment in
the, placement & lateral location and retro-reflectivity of the signs to enhance drivers'
perceptions.
