Self-explaining roads: What does visual cognition tell us about designing safer roads?

In 1995, Theeuwes and Godthelp published a paper called self-explaining roads, in which they argued for the development of a new concept for approaching safe road design. Since this publication, self-explaining roads (SER) became one of the leading principles in road design worldwide. The underlying notion is that roads should be designed in such a way that road users immediately know how to behave and what to expect on these roads. In other words, the environment should be designed such that it elicits adequate and safe behavior. The present paper describes in detail the theoretical basis for the idea of SER and explains why this has such a large effect on human behavior. It is argued that the notion is firmly rooted in the theoretical framework of statistical learning, subjective road categorization and the associated expectations. The paper illustrates some successful implementation and describes recent developments worldwide.

Automated summary

"Self-explaining roads" is a novel concept in road design that emphasizes designing roads in a way that users can immediately understand how to navigate and anticipate road conditions. This notion is firmly grounded in the theoretical framework of statistical learning, subjective road categorization, and associated expectations. The paper discusses successful implementations and recent developments globally.