Effects of roadside memorials on drivers’ risk perception and eye movements

Beanland, Vanessa; Wynne, Rachael A. · 2019 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1186/s41235-019-0184-1

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Summary

This study investigates the impact of spontaneous roadside memorials on driver behavior, addressing a gap in scientific literature regarding whether these structures distract drivers or improve safety by signaling danger. While government policies vary from prohibition to informal allowance, existing evidence is largely anecdotal. The researchers aimed to determine if memorials capture visual attention and influence risk perception or travel speed choices. The study employed a preregistered experimental design with 40 licensed drivers who viewed 40 video clips of road scenes filmed from a driver’s perspective. The stimuli included clips with white cross memorials, matched control clips with no objects, and clips with traffic cones placed on the left roadside. Participants’ eye movements were tracked to measure attentional allocation, while they simultaneously rated perceived risk and selected preferred travel speeds for each scene. Statistical analyses used generalized estimating equations to account for repeated measures and variability across trials. Results indicated that roadside memorials successfully captured visual attention; participants were significantly more likely to fixate on memorials than on traffic cones or empty roadside areas. However, these fixations were brief, comprising only about 12% of the time the memorial was visible. Crucially, the presence of memorials did not significantly affect participants’ perceived risk ratings or their preferred travel speeds. Verbal commentary revealed that while 65% of participants noticed the memorials, only half of those who noticed explicitly factored them into their risk assessments. Most participants supported permitting memorials, though a minority opposed them due to distress or distraction concerns. The findings suggest that while roadside memorials attract driver attention, they do not substantially alter safety-related behaviors such as speed selection or risk perception. Consequently, memorials are unlikely to have a major positive or negative impact on road safety. The study concludes that the primary function of memorials is commemorative rather than regulatory, and that while they capture attention, this does not translate into systematic changes in driving behavior. The results provide empirical evidence to inform policy debates, indicating that bans based on distraction concerns may not be supported by behavioral data, though regulation of memorial design and placement could address minority concerns about distress.

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.

Topics

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• external distraction
• visual
• perceptual countermeasures
• peripheral attention
• eye movements scanning
• hazard perception

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data, observational prevalence