Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0
Title:
Road Weather Information Systems: Some Findings on How RWIS Information Should Be Disseminated to the Traveling Public
Abstract:
Data obtained from Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) has been successfully applied to road maintenance and to a lesser extent traveler information. Before the information is disseminated publicly, several questions must be asked. What RWIS information does the public want and how do they want to receive it? Insight into the answers to these questions is provided by a series of questionnaires that were provided to four potential user groups of RWIS information: commuters, recreational travelers, long distance travelers, and truckers (including dispatchers). The results show that dynamic message signs, commercial radio, and highway advisory radio are the most popular form of delivery methods. No strong preference was identified for telephone services, paging services, or in-car navigation systems. Road condition information is preferred by all groups over information on alternate routes, travel times, or travel speeds. The surveys indicate that road conditions that inhibit vehicle performance, such as accumulating snow, fog, ice, wind, and road closures, are most important to users. Information about rain, non-sticking snow, thunderstorms, and snow flurries are less important to users. Users prefer delivery time while from one our before departure and while en-route.
Source(s):
80th Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting; University of Utah, Traffic Lab. For an electronic copy of this resource, please direct your request to WeatherFeedback@dot.gov.
Date: 2001
Author:
Hansen, Martin, Perrin Jr., Meldrum
Keywords:
Weather information
Road Weather Information System (RWIS)
Pavement condition
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