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Title:

User Perception of Traffic Quality Measures on Basic Freeway Segments

Accession Number:

01099600

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

According to the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM2000), definitions of level of service for freeways are generally in terms of such service measures as freedom to maneuver, change in free flow speed, and drivers’ physical and psychological comfort. These quality measures are inherently uncertain and are highly dependent on user perceptions. However, users’ perception of traffic operational conditions has not been explicitly considered in defining LOS categories. This study is an attempt to evaluate freeways level of service and other quality measures describing LOS, based on user perception. Therefore, twenty 1-minute video clips of a basic freeway segment were shown to users. For each video clip, users’ perceptions of LOS, maneuverability, flow condition and congestion of the traffic stream were surveyed. Using fuzzy set theory, fuzzy categories for these traffic characteristics were developed. The developed categories for each quality measure were analyzed. They were also compared to the HCM LOS categories. It was found that fuzzy categories of LOS, maneuverability and flow condition are noticeably similar in terms of category range and spacing. In addition, perceived categories of these three quality measures are not necessarily similar to HCM LOS categories in terms of category range. It was also observed that for traffic conditions having HCM LOS A through E, users perceive service on three-to-four levels. The findings also suggest that when traffic conditions have HCM LOS A through E, the congestion within the traffic stream is acceptable for users.

Monograph Accession #:

01084478

Report/Paper Numbers:

08-0517

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Vaziri, Manouchehr
Dehghani Sanij, Mohammad Saied

Pagination:

15p

Publication Date:

2008

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 87th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2008-1-13 to 2008-1-17
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

DVD

Features:

Figures (4) ; References (9) ; Tables (4)

Uncontrolled Terms:

Perceptions; Quality

Subject Areas:

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Society; I73: Traffic Control

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2008 Paper #08-0517

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Jan 29 2008 2:51PM