Understanding of traffic signs by drivers in the city of Manila, Philippines

The use of traffic signs is one of the most reliable control devices used to guide the safe and orderly movement of traffic and pedestrians. Traffic signs are necessary to give information for routes, directions, and warnings for drivers. These should be clear to convey the intended message for road users to understand. Drivers tend to ignore the road signs while authorities opt not to enforce them. As a result, majority of the Filipino drivers are not disciplined and traffic signs become of less importance. Moreover, a good number of Filipino motorists have not gone proper training resulting to the lack of knowledge regarding the various road signs. Therefore, driver understanding of some selected traffic signs was assessed through a survey. The study aims to determine the individual characteristics of drivers in understanding traffic signs. The study of the role of drivers’ characteristics in understanding traffic signs in Manila is of great importance to prevent rising accidents in the area. The survey was conducted among 535 Manila city drivers. The results indicated that the drivers had a poor level of understanding of the meaning of traffic signs. The overall understanding of level, measured in terms of percentage correct responses, was 76.25%. The drivers’ familiarity to traffic signs mainly depends on its abundance in the location where the respondent usually passes through and the simplicity of its design wherein the road user can easily determine its meaning. The study further establishes that socio-economic background and driving characteristics have a significant influence on driver’s understanding of traffic signs such as the educational attainment and mode of driving training.