Eeny Meeny Miney... GO!

I have been a Commonwealth kid and a Katipunan kid for most of my 21 years of life and so you can say that I've had a lot of experience when it comes to navigating through the changes in the signages and lightings and traffic schemes (as per every semeseter in school it seemed). Commonwealth used to be a four-lane highway that used traffic lights for every intersection and barely readable signs dotting the sides of the road. Fast forward 8 years into the future and it is now a [under construction] 6-lane mega highway with signs posted everywhere, more street lamps, no more traffic lights and plenty of u-turns. Katipunan underwent the same transformation in those same 8 years; and in those same 8 years, all the traffic lights in the Metro seems to have magically appeared in Makati and Fort Bonifacio.

Change can be good, that I agree with, but only if properly researched and directed.

In a 2001 study by Bullough et al, they tried to determine whether the luminance of traffic signals at night can cause visual discomfort. They based their stimuli on the standard presribed luminancies of the following: red=5000 cd/m2; yellow=23,100 cd/m2; green=10,000 cd/m2. They simulated an observer directly looking at an experimental traffic signal from two distances. They then collected the observers' ratings of discomfort. They found that afterimages (of varied colors per subject) were more common in higher luminancies, that color identification was nearly spot on during nighttime (since all of the participants passed the Ishihara tests and were further tested to be normal), that distance and visual discomfort are related and that green and yellow signals were more likely to cause visual discomfort, and that the recommendations are to make the standards dimmer than they should.

In other traffic-related studies, they focused on how color-blind people have certain problems when it comes to noticing traffic signals. From the different designs for example of LED lgihts, the green-tinted lens was better for the color-blind (because clear ones appear brighter than they should) but the clear lens was better for the non-color-blind (Starr et al, 2004). With the use of interviews and correspondence, the most common problem was recognizing between the red and amber signals (Whillans et al, 1983). Having poor visibility during the night as well as being tired (wherein they find color blindness a problem) also pose some difficulties.

Though granted through the years, many changes have been made. Like the warning flashing signals, and the change in standard wavelengths of red so that it appears more orange and green being more blue, and the use of shapes in certain signages; this topic is still important and must be given more time.

It's especially important for us here in the Philippines wherein the signs and signals offer no help even for those not afflicted with color blindness- with signs barely even seen or understood or even visible.

Bullough, J, Boyce, P, Bierman, A, Hunter, C, Conway, K, Nakata, A, Figueiro, M. (2001). Trafific Signal Luminance and Visual Discomfort at Night.. Transportation Research Record, Vol. 1754, p. 42-47.

Starr, R., Sandberg, W., & Guan, Y. (2004). Does color blindness affect the perception of green LED signal indications?. ITE Journal, 74(8), 32-38. 

Whillans, M. G. (1983). Colour-blind drivers' perception of traffic signals.. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 128(10), 1187-1189. 


Photo sources: 
www.skyscrapercity.com
charlestonteaparty.org