Effectiveness of unconventional anti-texting messages displayed on dynamic message signs

Dynamic message signs (DMS) are widely adopted to display traffic and safety information. This study investigated the effectiveness of behavioral safety messages, including 10 unconventional anti-texting messages used on DMS. Feedback on the usability and effectiveness of various messages was collected from 120 drivers in an online survey. The influence of ten unconventional anti-texting DMS messages on driver performance was observed using driving simulator experiments with sixty participants. 89% of the respondents reported reading the signs, while 85% thought about the relevance of displayed messages. During the simulator experiment, drivers responded to a significantly lesser number of text messages after observing the anti-texting DMS messages, compared to the segments without any DMS. Both self-perceived opinions and driver performance metrics indicated a positive influence of displaying safety messages on DMS. Group comparisons across age and gender showed that some messages were more effective than others among specific driver groups.