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Title:

Empirical Evaluation of Drivers’ Behavior Response to Accident Information on Freeway Changeable Message Signs

Accession Number:

01520119

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

In this paper, the authors focus on the accident messages displayed on freeway changeable message signs (CMS), and study their effect on drivers’ route choice behavior. Previous studies on the effect of CMS messages have shown mixed results, due to differences in event types and modeling choices. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain the real effect of CMS accident messages, and also to compare two commonly used statistical models. The proportion of total flow heading to off-ramps or freeway interchanges (called “diversion rate” hereafter) is calculated at diverging locations, and use the change in diversion rate as the indicator for behavior change. Insights from two case studies are first drawn, and find that the effect of CMS accident messages on the diversion rate is minor and the effect of visible congestion is dominant. Then compare two commonly used statistical analyses are compared, accounting for the effect of visible congestion. The correlation analysis compares the diversion rate with and without CMS accident messages, while the causality analysis compares the diversion rate right before and after CMS accident messages are turned on or off. With empirical data from three study sites, the causality analysis is used to show that the real effect of CMS accident messages on diversion rate is insignificant. However, the correlation analysis shows positive correlation between CMS accident messages and diversion rate, indicating that this analysis cannot be used to draw causal inferences and that other factors have played a role in changing the diversion rate.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AND20 User Information Systems.

Monograph Accession #:

01503729

Report/Paper Numbers:

14-0639

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Xuan, Yiguang (Ethan)
Kanafani, Adib K

Pagination:

20p

Publication Date:

2014

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC
Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Subject Areas:

Data and Information Technology; Highways; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2014 Paper #14-0639

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Jan 27 2014 2:17PM