Do motorcyclists follow variable message signs? What 105 riders in Athens told us
Athens has had variable message signs (VMS) since 2004. These are the electronic panels over the main roads, 24 of them, run by the city’s traffic management centre. They warn drivers about accidents, roadworks and demonstrations ahead. The messages are designed for car drivers, but a big part of the traffic in Athens is on two wheels. Motorcycles and scooters filter between lanes and rarely sit in the queue the sign is warning about.
So with Ioanna Spyropoulou at the National Technical University of Athens, I wanted to find out: do riders actually change their route when a variable message sign tells them there’s a problem ahead?
How we did it
We stopped riders across Athens and asked them to fill in a questionnaire. This wasn’t easy, because many said no. In the end we had 105 complete answers. Each rider saw a set of made-up but realistic VMS messages. We changed three things in the messages: what the incident was, how serious its impact was, and whether the sign suggested another route. For each message, riders said how likely they were to divert. Then we used probit models to see which parts of the message, and which kinds of rider, made a diversion more likely.
What we found
- Riders like the VMS, but they don’t feel the signs are for them. Most found them useful, but 56% didn’t want more money spent on them, and 36% wanted the VMS to show travel times based on how two-wheelers actually move.
- The message matters. The type of incident and how big its impact was both changed whether riders diverted. Roadworks made them most likely to change route.
- A suggested route doesn’t. Car drivers and professional drivers in earlier studies were influenced by a suggested alternative route, but riders weren’t. They find their own way.
- The rider matters too. Riders on bigger motorcycles were more likely to divert, probably because they can’t get through traffic as easily. Age, gender and habits such as breaking traffic rules also played a part.
Why it matters
Smart city tools are often designed for one kind of road user. If a city wants its information systems to work for everyone, it needs to ask each group what they need. For riders in Athens, that means information based on how they move, which is different from how cars queue.
Spyropoulou, I. and Impersimi, E. (2020). Powered-two-wheelers and smart cities: the case of variable message signs. IET Intelligent Transport Systems, 14(14), 2021–2029. doi.org/10.1049/iet-its.2019.0702