ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR OF DRIVERS REGARDING ROUTE DIVERSION

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF DRIVERS IN THE CHICAGO AREA WERE STATISTICALLY ANALYZED WITH REGARD TO THE VOLUNTARY DIVERSION FROM NORMAL ROUTES TO WORK TO SOME OTHER ROUTE. THE REASONS EXPLOERED FOR DIVERTING WERE TO AVOID UNEXPECTED DELAYS OR TO DECREASE OVERALL TRAVEL TIME OR BOTH. CHARACTERISTICS FOR BOTH THE TRIP TO WORK AND THE RETURN TRIP HOME WERE STUDIED. A STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE WAS ADMINISTERED TO 732 DRIVERS AND THE RESPONSES WERE USED AS A BASIS FOR ESTIMATING THE PROBABILITY OF DIVERSION FOR DRIVERS RECEIVING INFORMATION ON TRAFFIC CONDITIONS. THE RESPONSES WERE RELATED TO PERCEIVED ATTITUDES TOWARD DIVERSION AND WERE IN PART BASED ON PAST BEHAVIOR. IN GENERAL, IT WAS FOUND THAT THE RESPONDENTS ARE MORE RECEPTIVE TO DIVERSION TO AVOID A DELAY OR TO SAVE TRAVEL TIME ON THE TRIP HOME. THE RESPONDENTS FURTHER INDICATED THAT THEY WOULD DIVERT MORE TO AVOID A DELAY THAN TO SAVE TRAVEL TIME. THE RESPONDENTS WERE NOT TOO CONCERNED WITH MINOR DELAYS OR A 1 MINUTE SAVING IN TRAVEL TIME. THERE IS MORE DIVERSION BECAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT THAN BECAUSE OF CONGESTED CONDITIONS. THE FINDINGS SEEM TO INDICATE THAT A UNIQUE AND WORTHWHILE SERVICE COULD BE PROVIDED BY AN INFORMATION SYSTEM OPERATING ON FREEWAYS. /AUTHOR/