Driver attitudes towards display formats of real‐time traffic information systems

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has a special concern in providing drivers with real‐time traffic information on variable message signs (VMSs) to assist with the selection of routes to destinations. The effectiveness of the system is reduced if users misinterpret the contents of the messages. This study determines the effects of VMS display formats in the decision‐making process of drivers. To achieve this objective, stated preference techniques and discrete choice analysis are used. A total of 475 responses have been obtained in a recent survey and used as a database. Drivers’ behaviour is quantified and expressed by utility functions. To demonstrate the explanatory power of the models, the respondents were further divided into two categories regarding their listening propensity to radio traffic information. The results show that driver preference of travelling on a route can be affected by presenting identical traffic information in different formats.

Keywords:

• Variable message sign (VMS)
• Real‐time traffic information
• Driver attitude
• Stated preference
• Route choice behaviour