Exploring Driver Behaviour to Shape Better Road User Experiences
Michael Sparrow, Jared Thomas, David Rankin, Joel Burton, Conor Dwyer
WSP Australia
This presentation was delivered at the 2021 Online Conference Series and until October 2022 is only available to registered delegates and Content Access Pass holders via Interchange. For information on accessing this and other presentations please review the Content Access Pass options.
ABSTRACT
What if we could conduct behavioural and usability testing of design to see and understand how the community interacts with a transport corridor? Could we improve end-user experiences and shape better outcomes for our future communities? This paper explores how combining project design data, engineers, behavioural science methodologies, and visualisation technologies helped shape a better experience for end road users on the Bruce Highway Interchange Upgrade – Maroochydore Road and Mons Road project.
Its user-centred design approach enabled in-depth exploration with 48 different drivers and 244 drives through the interchange, testing various design scenarios to ensure the end look and feel aligned with a more comfortable, safer experience for drivers/road users. Using these tools, we learned how customers respond to design, how we could improve their experience, and how customer experience could impact the road's operation and maintenance.
Delivering long-term benefits for the local community was a central focus of the Bruce Highway Upgrade – Maroochydore Road and Mons Road Interchanges project. It meant challenging the design to uncover deeper insights into its impacts on end road-user experience. Combining people-focussed design principles including visualisation, behavioural and usability testing helped us comprehensively understand how the community interacts with the road and what design elements might be more (or less) effective.
Author(s)
Michael Sparrow | WSP Australia
Michael is the National Capability Lead and a Principal Visualisation Consultant at WSP. He is extremely passionate about technical innovation and how technology can be used to deliver great project outcomes. As a leader in the visualisation team, Michael has worked with a wide range of clients, delivering innovative 3D / 4D visualisation, virtual and augmented reality content.
Michael has worked on major engineering infrastructure projects, feature films, and computer game projects, maintains a healthy knowledge of visualisation technologies and the industry.
