Effective Implementation of Variable Message Sign (VMS) in Dhaka City

Abstract

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is the one of the most densely populated city of the world. Bangladesh being one of the third world countries has a high economic growth rate and Dhaka being the capital of the country has a continuously increasing rate of business & commercial activities. The present transportation system being designed decades ago can’t cope with the higher mobilizing activities. Besides, with the increasing rate of accidents traffic safety has become an important factor. So, new technology with new designs craved an important position in the integrated transportation system which should be introduced to cope up with this new situation. Variable Message Signs, a way of informing drivers about road conditions and a potential safety measures has already got popularity in different countries like U.S.A, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, Malaysia, Sweden and other developed countries of the world. Extensive research regarding VMS has been carried out all over the world. Few VMS have been also noticed across the road of Dhaka city with faulty way of installation, erroneous message, poor management and less capability to attract drivers. From our investigation it was found out that no research activities regarding VMS have been carried out during or after installation of VMS. So, we feel the urge to research for the implementation of VMS effectively by finding out the difference in perception among different survey groups with proper reasoning and recommending our findings to the stakeholders and further research works on this topic. However, key stakeholder groups were surveyed with some limitations due to illiteracy, unwillingness and misconceptions of the survey groups. ANOVA method was followed by successful eliminations of these errors during the statistical analysis and inter and intra group differences were found out on the basis of personal interview and interactions with the survey groups. Recommendations on the basis of major key findings were done to the stakeholders and for further research activities on VMS. The study in total, focuses on the differences of perceptions of different survey groups, reasons for the differences to find out an effective way of implementing VMS as an integral part of transportation system in cities like Dhaka.