Potential of Procedural Knowledge to Enhance Advanced Traveler Information Systems

Abstract

The closure of a portion of the Santa Monica Freeway following the 1994 Northridge earthquake afforded the opportunity to study the behavior of motorists as they found their way around the collapsed bridges along alternate and detour routes. In this study, 502 motorists, many of whom were displaced from the damaged Santa Monica Freeway, responded to a mailed questionnaire asking about changes in travel patterns, factors affecting alternate route choice, way-finding strategies used, difficulty in following alternate routes, attitudes toward the neighborhoods containing alternate routes, and attitudinal changes regarding the risk of traveling city freeways. A factor analysis of the responses revealed a procedural knowledge factor, indicating that motorists found landmarks, street signs, and written directions to be helpful aids in following alternate and detour routes. Procedural knowledge, the stored sequence of decisions about how to get from one place to another, is part of the spatial knowledge acquisition process. It is suggested that cues supporting a procedural level of knowledge could be used to enhance Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS). Alternate and detour route information could include more emphasis on landmarks and street signs and be conveyed in the form of written or verbal directions.