ROUTE CHOICE IN RESPONSE TO VARIABLE MESSAGE SIGNS: FACTORS AFFECTING COMPLIANCE. IN: BEHAVIORAL AND NETWORK IMPACTS OF DRIVER INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Variable message signs (vms) can be installed beside or above the highway in order to communicate with drivers. They have, for many years, been widely used to deliver hazard warnings and safety related instructions on speed and lane usage. Their use to influence route choice is not so widespread but is by no means unusual and is the subject of this paper. The current surge of interest in their use for this purpose is particularly associated with the development of network management systems which seek to minimize the disruptive effect of load capacity reduction due to scheduled works or unplanned incidents, or, more generally, to help match the pattern of demand to the available capacity. There are many examples of such systems. The most advanced seek to use data from on-line traffic sensors, along with information from the police and highway maintenance authority, to determine, more or less automatically, which messages should currently be displayed on which VMS panels. Detailed design and appraisal of such systems obviously requires accurate prediction of the effectiveness of the VMS signs in achieving the required diversion. Early surveys of the impact of VMS on route choice have reported diversions ranging from 10 percent to 80 percent. Even when allowance is made for the fact that a given instruction or message may not be relevant for all motorists by virtue of their precise destination, it is clear that the simplistic assumptions that all motorists will obey all route choice advise, or act in full accord with any traffic information supplied by VMS, is far from adequate. The current paper seeks to address the reasons for non-compliance and to explain how it is related to the precise planning of the VMS message.

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  • Corporate Authors:

    Ashgate Publishing Company

    110 Cherry Street, Suite 3-1
    Burlington, VT  United States  05401-3818
  • Authors:
    • BONSALL, P W
    • PALMER, I A
  • Publication Date: 1999

Language

  • English

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00794238
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 1840145064
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Jun 28 2000 12:00AM