Sensitivity of commuters' demographic characteristics to license plate data collection specifications

The demographic characteristics of commuters are significant determining factors in many transportation-related policy and planning decisions. A popular way of obtaining the demographic characteristics of roadway system commuters is through license plate studies. There is a concern, however, that data collection factors including time, day, and location of data collection can potentially affect the observed demographic characteristics of the collected samples. This study uses statistical tests to assess the sensitivity of observed demographic characteristics from license plate data collection to data collection parameters by using data collected in the I-85 high-occupancy vehicle corridor in the Atlanta, Georgia, metropolitan area.