Intelligent Rat-Runners: Impact of Car Navigation Systems on Safety of Residential Roads
The authors investigated the phenomenon of intelligent rat-runnersthat is, road drivers that use car navigation systems to drive through residential areas in order to avoid congested traffic on arterial roads. A nationwide questionnaire survey revealed that some of such drivers, as a result of having to look at the displays of their navigation systems, have had experiences that could have resulted in serious accidents. A driving experiment conducted showed that drivers with access to information about narrow streets and route guidance through their navigation systems have a greater tendency to avoid congested arterial roads by turning into residential areas.
car navigation system residential area rat-runner traffic safety traffic calming