Handbook of Driving Simulation for Engineering, Medicine, and Psychology

Advanced Guide Signs and Behavioral Decision Theory

Author
Konstantinos V. Katsikopoulos, Max Planck Institute for Human Development

Abstract
The Problem. Advanced guide signs can display information that affects driver behavior. Thus they can be used to relieve traffic and parking congestion. To use this opportunity effectively, we need a theory of the effects of travel and parking information on driver decisions. Role of Driving Simulators. Driving simulators can provide quality data in controlled experiments that investigate the effects of travel and parking information on decision-making. Key Results of Driving Simulator Studies. There is evidence that people employ simple heuristics, often involving one-piece-at-a-time processing of information and the use of thresholds, for deciding whether to choose a travel route or a parking spot. Scenarios and Dependent Variables. Examples of the simulation scenarios used include driving on a highway and having to choose whether to divert to an alternative route or not, as well as driving on a city street and having to choose among several parking lots. Platform Specificity and Equipment Limitations. Not all simulators have the scenario development tools required to implement the scenarios discussed above because there are requirements on the quality of visual images.

Keywords
Guide Signs, Route Choice, Parking Choice, Utility Theory, Heuristics

Key Points
• Driving simulation can be used to study people’s route and parking choices.
• Traffic and parking congestion may be relieved if people’s choices can be described mathematically.
• Route and parking choices seem to be described as resulting from the use of simple heuristics.
• The heuristics people seem to employ involve the sequential processing of information and the use of thresholds.

Key Readings
Ben-Akiva, M., and Lerman, S. R. (1997). Discrete choice analysis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gigerenzer, G., and Selten, R. (Eds.). (2001). Bounded rationality: The adaptive toolbox. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Hester, A. E., Fisher, D. L., and Collura, J. (2002). Drivers’ parking decisions: Advanced parking management systems. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 128(1), 49–57.

Katsikopoulos, K. V., Duse-Anthony, Y., Fisher, D. L., and Duffy, S. A. (2002). Risk attitude reversals in drivers’ route choice when range of travel time information is provided, Human Factors, 44(3), 466–473.