Congestion and driver response
Congestion and driver response
With specific reference to the city of Southampton, this thesis is concerned with understanding how commuters react to endemic and unexpected congestion; what part current sources of traffic information play in their choice of route and departure time making processes, and how the network might be better equipped to provide more quantitative forms of information at minimum cost.
Using questionnaires and diary surveys the habitual route choice and departure time behaviours of 175 University staff were described and then monitored over 11 working days, during which roadworks affected two key links feeding the main campus. Over 77% of the sample had developed 1 or more 'novel' route strategies for getting to work. These alterations, although infrequent were generally made at certain specific locations en-route according to traffic conditions encountered and the drivers own personal experience. Endemic congestion appeared to be an accepted part of the journey to work as an average journey of 3.5 miles took 20 minutes.
Despite these delays, (which through registration plate analyses were found to vary significantly with day), regular commuters were seen to re-appear consistently within the same time interval, 65% within +/- 5 minutes of their previous day's time. The fact that the roadworks did not significantly affect the diarists' home departure or work arrival times, regardless of their flexibility in work start time suggests that commuters settle on a departure time that caters for most eventualities barring severe incidents.
Although local traffic reports were picked up by 92% of subjects who listened to radio en-route, very few commuters (1.2% over the diary period) were directly affected by the information. Pre-trip listening was not common and significant differences in the perceived value of reports were found between the audiences of the three most popular stations. In a separate survey, variable message signs warning of 18 minute delays caused by emergency roadworks caused only 7% of interviewed drivers to divert.
University of Southampton
Cherrett, Thomas James
3e1c0ed8-0cef-4785-a9fe-22413986261f
1998
Cherrett, Thomas James
3e1c0ed8-0cef-4785-a9fe-22413986261f
Cherrett, Thomas James
(1998)
Congestion and driver response.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
With specific reference to the city of Southampton, this thesis is concerned with understanding how commuters react to endemic and unexpected congestion; what part current sources of traffic information play in their choice of route and departure time making processes, and how the network might be better equipped to provide more quantitative forms of information at minimum cost.
Using questionnaires and diary surveys the habitual route choice and departure time behaviours of 175 University staff were described and then monitored over 11 working days, during which roadworks affected two key links feeding the main campus. Over 77% of the sample had developed 1 or more 'novel' route strategies for getting to work. These alterations, although infrequent were generally made at certain specific locations en-route according to traffic conditions encountered and the drivers own personal experience. Endemic congestion appeared to be an accepted part of the journey to work as an average journey of 3.5 miles took 20 minutes.
Despite these delays, (which through registration plate analyses were found to vary significantly with day), regular commuters were seen to re-appear consistently within the same time interval, 65% within +/- 5 minutes of their previous day's time. The fact that the roadworks did not significantly affect the diarists' home departure or work arrival times, regardless of their flexibility in work start time suggests that commuters settle on a departure time that caters for most eventualities barring severe incidents.
Although local traffic reports were picked up by 92% of subjects who listened to radio en-route, very few commuters (1.2% over the diary period) were directly affected by the information. Pre-trip listening was not common and significant differences in the perceived value of reports were found between the audiences of the three most popular stations. In a separate survey, variable message signs warning of 18 minute delays caused by emergency roadworks caused only 7% of interviewed drivers to divert.
Text
532018.pdf
- Version of Record
More information
Published date: 1998
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 463299
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/463299
PURE UUID: c707c346-af26-430c-a50d-5d9f2e870aa4
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 20:49
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 19:03
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Thomas James Cherrett
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics