HOW CAN I USE THE ITS WARRANTS?

The ITS warrants presented on this website are in draft form, and are part of an ongoing research project assessing the potential for ITS warrants. Visitors to the website shall not use the warrants for any purpose other than assisting this research effort and contributing to the project. The warrants have not yet been validated and therefore should not be used to make any formal assessments about the validity of, or need for technology devices.

The intent of this project is to assess if ITS warrants can assist agencies in the decision process of deploying an ITS device for a specific application. The intent is that warrants could also be used to validate existing ITS device deployments.

The use of the warrants is intended to be an initial step in the decision making process, analogous to more conventional cost-benefit analyses, and as such the warrants would only be one of many tools used in the decision process for determining if a device is to be deployed. The driving force behind the development of the ITS Warrants is the fact that, often, a numerical cost-benefit analysis of ITS devices is difficult or even not possible. For example, while the costs of a CCTV camera can easily be estimated, the financial benefits of a CCTV camera are difficult to estimate. Therefore, the goal of the warrants is to provide a preliminary analysis of whether a specific ITS device is warranted at a candidate location. If a device is determined to be warranted, this represents a first step in the decision making process of whether to deploy or not. Local agencies or states are then encouraged to perform local engineering and planning analyses (as required) to determine whether the deployment is feasible at this location.

The warrant are arranged by the functions or purposes for each ITS device, and were developed to be a series of simple yes or no questions that can be answered quickly, avoiding the complexity of collecting a lot of data before using the warrants. Please follow the following three steps when using the ITS Warrants:

Step 1: Purpose Selection

Identify and select the most appropriate purpose(s) (function) that the ITS device is being considered to perform at the candidate location. If the device will be used for multiple purposes, run the warrant analysis for each purpose.

Step 2: Consideration of Warrant

For each purpose, answer the series of questions asked by the warrants. You will note that the Warrants are worded as “The device is warranted if…..” At the conclusion of Step 2, you will have either discovered that the use of the Warrant has concluded either:

A) The device is warranted;

B) The device is partially warranted (in which case if you are considering multiple purposes, you are informed that if one or more additional purposes are partially met, the device shall be considered warranted;) or

C) The device is not warranted at this location

Step 3: Next Steps

For each device that the warrants process identifies as ‘Warranted’, it is recommended that additional engineering and planning studies (as appropriate) be conducted for the device at the candidate location. These will include such considerations as whether there is power supply? Whether there is appropriate access for maintenance and operations? Whether it is safe to deploy this device at this location? Please note that the Warrants do not address these engineering and planning decisions, but rather the warrants simply look at whether the specific device is warranted at the location, given the need and conditions.

Final Thoughts on the Use of the Warrants

Many of the ITS Warrants examine whether lower cost or less technology oriented solutions would be more appropriate. Whenever possible, notes are included in the warrants. Therefore, while an ITS device might not be warranted, other options for meeting the same objectives might be more appropriate.