The research on drivers´ route choice behavior in the presence of dynamic traffic information

Roadside variable message sign (VMS) is one of the important tools of ITS for traffic management and route guidance in many countries. To investigate the driver route choice behavior in the presence of VMS information in Beijing, the authors carried out a study using the SP survey to collect drivers´ route choice behavioral data, covering driving years, network familiarity, tolerance to the delay, education level, criteria of the route choice, confidence in VMS information, etc. A cumulative logistic regression model was developed to determine the probability of diversion. The algorithm of transforming the change of the traffic flow into diversion probability was developed in the paper, which includes the method for link state recognition and cumulative flow diversion model. Furthermore, factors that will influence the drivers´ behavior were analyzed. It is indicated that drivers might pay high attention to the dynamic information of VMS, but the accuracy and punctuality of the information in Beijing still needs to be improved because it is one of the most important factor influencing driver´s route choice behavior, and the more important is providing clear information to support drivers´ diversion decision (when and where to divert)