This report considers a wide range of possible methods for improving the route guidance information available to drivers, and for saving up to £600m per year of national resource costs which are effectively wasted by drivers who fail to select optimum routes for unfamiliar journeys. The methods considered include improvements to maps and road signs, both of which could prove highly cost effective although they would leave some 80 per cent of the wastage unrecovered. A substantial proportion of this remaining wastage might be avoided with a viewdata route planning and guidance scheme which could be achieved at relatively low cost to public funds, or with automatic systems. Of a range of automatic electronic guidance systems considered the most cost effective solution would be provided by a system which used buried loops to provide a two-way communication link between a roadside and a vehicle unit. Such a scheme would necessarily involve a considerable investment form public funds, but would offer the greatest potential for further development and, in particular, could provide the basis of a comprehensive traffic control tool. (Author/publisher)
Abstract