scholarly journals Effectiveness of Variable Message Signs on Driving Behavior Based on a Driving Simulation Experiment

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuedong Yan ◽  
Jiawei Wu
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Road Network ◽  
Simulation Experiment ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Driving Behavior ◽  
Driving Simulation ◽  
Traffic Information ◽  
Variable Message Signs ◽  
Information Format ◽  
Message Signs

Variable message signs (VMSs), as one of the important ITS devices, provide real-time traffic information of road network to drivers in order to improve route choice and relieve the traffic congestion. In this study, the effectiveness of VMS on driving behavior was tested based on a driving simulation experiment. A road network with three levels of VMS location to route-diverging intersection and three types of VMS information format was designed in a high fidelity driving simulator platform. Fifty-two subjects who were classified by driver age, gender, and vocation successfully completed this experiment. The experimental results showed that driver characteristics, VMS location, and information format profoundly influence driving behaviors. Based on the research findings, it is suggested that VMS would be positioned between 150 m and 200 m upstream of the diverging point to balance the VMS effects on traffic safety and operation and the graphic information VMS format is better than the format with text massage only.

scholarly journals Improved Road Safety at Work Zones using Advanced Traveler Information Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Suhail Almallah ◽  
Qinaat Hussain ◽  
Wael K. M Alhajyaseen ◽  
Tom Brijs
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Work Zone ◽  
Speed Limit ◽  
Work Zones ◽  
Treatment Scenario ◽  
Lane Changing ◽  
Variable Message Signs ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Message Signs

Work zones are road sections where road construction or maintenance activities take place. These work zones usually have different alignment and furniture than the original road and thus temporary lower speeds are adopted at these locations. However, drivers usually face difficulty in adopting the new speed limit and maneuvering safely due to the change in alignment. Therefore, work zones are commonly considered as hazardous locations with higher crash rates and severities as reported in the literature. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a variable message signs (VMSs) based system for work zone advance warning area. The proposed system aims at enhancing driver adaptation of the reduced speed limit, encourage early lane changing maneuvers and improve the cooperative driving behavior in the pre-work zone road section. The study was conducted using a driving simulator at the College of Engineering of Qatar University. Seventy volunteers holding a valid Qatari passenger car driving license participated in this study. In the simulator experiment, we have two scenarios (control and treatment). The control scenario was designed based on the Qatar Work Zone Traffic Management Guide (QWZTMG), where the length of the advance warning area is 1000 m. Meanwhile, the treatment scenario contains six newly designed variable message signs where two of them were animation-based. The VMSs were placed at the same locations of the static signs in the control scenario. Both scenarios were tested for two situations. In the first situation, the participants were asked to drive on the left lane while in the second situation, they were instructed to drive on the second lane. The study results showed that the proposed system was effective in motivating drivers to reduce their traveling speed in advance. Compared to the control scenario, drivers’ mean speed was significantly 6.3 and 11.1 kph lower in the VMS scenario in the first and second situations, respectively. Furthermore, the VMS scenario encouraged early lane changing maneuvers. In the VMS scenario, drivers changed their lanes in advance by 150 m compared to the control scenario. In addition, the proposed system was effective in motivating drivers to keep larger headways with the frontal merging vehicle. Taking into account the results from this study, we recommend the proposed VMS based system as a potentially effective treatment to improve traffic safety at work zones.

scholarly journals A Driving Simulation to Analysis and Quantitative Comparison of Driving Behavior of Guide Signs at Intersections

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Tianzheng Wei ◽  
Tong Zhu ◽  
Chenxin Li ◽  
Haoxue Liu
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Method ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Current System ◽  
Driving Behavior ◽  
Driving Simulation ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Safe Driving ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Significant Difference

Guide signs are an important source for drivers to obtain road information. However, the evaluation methods for the effectiveness of guide signs are not unified. The quantitative model for evaluating guide signs needs to be constructed to unify the current system of guide signs. This study aims to take the commonly used guide signs in China as the research object to explore the evaluation method of guide signs at intersections. Eight kinds of guide signs were designed and made based on the common layout (layout 1 and layout 2) and the amount of information on signs (3–6). Thirty-four drivers were recruited to organize a driving simulation based on the visual cognitive tasks. Drivers’ legibility time and driver behavior were obtained by using the driving simulator and E-Prime program. A comprehensive quantitative evaluation model of guide signs was established based on the factor analysis method and grey correlation analysis method from the perspective of safe driving. The results show that there is no significant difference in the SD of speed and the SD of acceleration under the influence of various guide signs. The average vehicle speed and acceleration decrease, and the lateral offset distance of the vehicle increases with the amount of information on guide signs increasing. The quantitative evaluation results of guide signs show that the visual security decreases with the increase of the amount of information on guide signs. And layout 2 has better performance than layout 1 when the amount of information on guide signs is the same. This study not only explores the change rule of driving behavior under the influence of guide signs, but also provides a reference for the selection of guide signs.

Link Flow Evaluation Using Loop Detector Data: Traveler Response to Variable-Message Signs

1996 ◽  
Vol 1550 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngbin Yim ◽  
Jean-Luc Ygnace
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Traffic Information ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Variable Message Signs ◽  
Real Time Traffic ◽  
Operational Test ◽  
Paris Region ◽  
Message Signs

Système d'Information Routière Intelligible aux Usagers (SIRIUS) is the largest urban field operational test of the advanced traveler information and automated traffic management system in Europe. With variable-message signs, SIRIUS has been in operation in the Paris region for 3 years. A preliminary investigation of the effectiveness of the SIRIUS system in traffic management is presented. The extent to which drivers respond to real-time traffic information and the consequential changes in link flow under SIRIUS is also presented. Time-series traffic data were analyzed to measure changes in mean flow rates at a selected link. It was found that variable-message signs influence drivers to choose less congested routes when drivers are provided with real-time traffic information, and that a driver's decision to divert is closely associated with the information pertaining to the level of congestion. In the Paris region, drivers received information on the length of the queue at the time of this study. As congestion becomes heavier, drivers are more likely to respond to variable-message signs. According to the data analysis, a queue length of 3 km seems to be a threshold at which a significant number of drivers choose to use an alternative route.

Suggestive Sound Design - How to use Active Interior Sound Design to improve traffic safety

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (5) ◽  
pp. 1561-1573
Author(s):  
Manuel Petersen ◽  
Marc Etri ◽  
Matthias Behrendt ◽  
Albert Albers ◽  
Manuel Spekker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Road Safety ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Driving Behavior ◽  
Sound Design ◽  
Driving Experience ◽  
Safety Distance ◽  
Electrical Vehicles ◽  
Important Addition ◽  
External Signals

Active sound design becomes an important addition to the newest generation of premium class electrical vehicles to enhance the emotionality of the driving experience. Musicological research indicates that emotions are altered by certain harmonic sets of pitches, whereas results in traffic psychology show that emotions can influence the driving behavior. Despite these findings, there is no research done on how changes to an active vehicle sound could influence the driving behavior. In this paper, we describe an approach for a suggestive sound design. It's based on the hypothesis, that the chosen safety distance by a driver could be altered by changing the inherent dissonance of an active interior vehicle sound based on the current safety distance. The suggestive sound design is based on an additive synthesizer utilizing the Shepard-Risset glissando. The sound can be controlled by external signals e.g. CAN signals from real or virtual vehicles. To verify this hypothesis, a driving simulator was built in which the driving experience with a suggestive sound and the resulting driving behavior can be validated through subject studies within an immersive and reproducible virtual reality environment. The research aims at improving road safety by influencing the driver through changes in the interior vehicle sound.

Analysis of the Influence of Traffic Information Messages on Route Selection

1995 ◽  
Vol 39 (17) ◽  
pp. 1082-1086
Author(s):  
W. Bradley Fain
Keyword(s):  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Intelligent Transportation Systems ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Intelligent Transportation ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Traffic Information ◽  
Route Selection ◽  
Variable Message Signs ◽  
Message Format ◽  
Message Signs

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can reduce traffic congestion by displaying congestion-related delay information on roadside variable message signs or in-vehicle displays. Message format and content may have a significant impact on the percentage of drivers who decide to make a route diversion. In this study, the effect of various traffic information message types on driver routing decisions was evaluated. Results suggest that messages including both an advisory and a descriptive component promote situation awareness and rapid decision making, both of which are critical for this application.

Improved traffic safety at work zones through animation-based variable message signs

2021 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 106284
Author(s):  
Mustafa Almallah ◽  
Qinaat Hussain ◽  
Wael K.M. Alhajyaseen ◽  
Ali Pirdavani ◽  
Kris Brijs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Work Zones ◽  
Variable Message Signs ◽  
Message Signs
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