A comparison of auditory and visual in-vehicle stop signals in philippine public road-based transportation

Abstract

Public road-based transportation vehicles (PRTV’s), mainly jeepneys and buses, are popular modes of transportation in the Philippines. While some jeepneys today have added mechanisms, such as switch-controlled buzzers, for passengers to indicate their stop, the most prevalent method remains to be the system of calling out to the driver. This study aims to compare which type of signal (auditory, visual, audiovisual, voice) will be the most effective in catching a PRTV driver’s attention. Simulating a driver’s environment, participants were tasked to respond whenever they were presented with a signal. Response times were gathered and analyzed using Analysis of Variance. It was determined that there was a significant difference among the different types of signals. Further comparison tests showed that the Light+Buzzer (audiovisual) signal elicited the fastest reaction time while the voice signal caused the slowest reaction.