Delay or travel time information? The impact of advanced traveler information systems on drivers’ behavior before freeway work zones

Peak travel times contribute to congestion formation at freeway work zones. Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) can inform drivers in real-time about the delays and travel times en-route and can provide information about an alternative route to a destination. Different ATIS display strategies are available; however, road authorities lack insights into how time display methods and sign characteristics influence the driving behavior (decelerations, lateral position), the drivers’ attention allocation ability and the subsequent route choice before the freeway diversion. A driving simulator study was conducted with 80 drivers in the State of Qatar to investigate drivers' behavior and voluntary route choices when encountering total travel time (default setting) or delay time updates for two freeway routes on Variable Message Signs (VMS) and Graphical Route Information Panels (GRIP). The GRIPs are a graphical alternative to conventional VMS that can provide drivers with a visual map of the most direct route or an alternative less congested route to a destination using different color schemes. The time difference ratio between the two routes was kept constant to compare the effectiveness of the information designs and investigate the drivers’ attention towards the signs with an eye-tracker. The results showed that the display of zero delays for a detour did influence 74–83% of the drivers to take the alternative route when being displayed on a VMS and a GRIP with free flow attribute framing. When displaying equal total travel times, the GRIP did influence 25% more drivers to follow the alternative route than the VMS. Generally, displaying zero delays for the alternative route resulted in an efficient attention allocation to the first ATIS location and fewer mean decelerations before the repeated ATIS location nearing the diversion. Road authorities are advised to activate the display of delay times to support efficient route choices among freeway drivers.     

“Going through a little bit of growing pains”: A qualitative study of the factors that influence the route choice of regular bicyclists in a developing cycling city

As cities make concerted efforts to become more bicycle-friendly through policy changes and infrastructure, it is important that such efforts ultimately support people who currently bicycle and remove barriers that may prevent more people from bicycling. Travel surveys can reveal the nature and distribution of bicycling trips, but perceptions and behaviours of bicyclists are better understood through qualitative methods. In particular, developing cycling cities are unique settings to examine how the built environment supports bicycling as changes are made to increase bicycling levels. Through semi-structured interviews, this research explores the case of Hamilton, Ontario and the factors that influence route choice from the perspective of regular bicyclists. Major themes were identified using thematic analysis: (i) exclusion from road space; (ii) infrastructure; and (iii) streetscape. Bicyclists highly value infrastructure and seek routes that minimize interactions with cars, while avoiding many arterial roads that prioritize motorists. Routes that appear to be more human-oriented or that have nature are also attractive. Many regular bicyclists report that current bicycle infrastructure does not meet their preferences. Despite building nearly half of the planned infrastructure network, our findings suggest the built environment is not perceived to be oriented to bicycling. This study provides policy and practice recommendations for developing cycling cities in North America as they transition towards established cycling cities.     

Individual and group advice taking in judgmental forecasting: Is group forecasting superior to individual forecasting?

We examined how individuals and groups behave in making judgmental forecasts when they are given external forecast advice. We compare individual and group advice-taking behavior under different conditions: (a) when advice quality is fixed, (b) when advice quality is randomly varied, and (c) when there is feedback on advice quality or not. Participants in Study 1 received fixed advice of either reasonable or unreasonable quality while making their decisions. Participants in Study 2 randomly received both reasonable and unreasonable advice. We found in both studies that groups feel more confident than individuals. This greater confidence decreased the groups' reliance on advice. We also found that groups are better than individuals at discerning the quality of advice. In the group treatment, the group's reliance on advice increased according to the degree of disagreement with the initial decisions of the group members. In Study 3, participants randomly received both reasonable and unreasonable advice, and in addition, they received feedback on actual realizations that enabled them to learn about the quality of advice. In the presence of feedback on random advice quality, groups are no longer less receptive to advice than individuals; with feedback, both individuals and groups discount advice more than they do without feedback. Nevertheless, groups are still better than individuals at discerning the quality of advice. We conclude that group forecasting is better than individual forecasting across various conditions that we investigate except when advice quality is known to be consistently reliable.     

Analyzing the role of culture in shaping American childhood: A twentieth-century case

Widespread beliefs about the nature and functions of children change over time, and affect actual treatment of children within and without the family. Significant changes in beliefs about children developed in the United States from the 1920s onward, with emphasis both on emotional value and on weakness or vulnerability. Increased consumption of expert advice played a key role in this shift, along with cultural translation of new issues concerning child labor and schooling. Key changes occurred in all industrial societies, but American culture generated some distinctive features that continue to show up in the anxieties many parents harbor about children and their effort to intervene on their children's behalf.