Trrl Lr 742

A home interview survey of drivers using M4 or A4 between Slough and London was carried out during 1973 to obtain information on various aspects of motorway use. The County of Berkshire (including the County Borough of Reading) was chosen as being a suitable catchment area and the drivers were selected at random from driving licence records. 523 interviews were successfully completed. The results from these were weighted according to each respondent's frequency of travel on these stretches of road, so as to give data representative of all the drivers living in Berkshire who used these roads. In the first part of the interview the drivers were questioned about their use of M4 and A4, and about factors they thought were important concerning their choice of route, bad weather, delays and hazards. Questions were also asked about their requirements for traffic information and about methods of providing it. In the second part of the interview the drivers were shown diagrams of standard, and non-standard, motorway matrix-signals to test their understanding of them. One finding was the red 'STOP' lights were poorly understood and often treated only as hazard warnings