Influences of Exit Advance Guide Signs on the Trajectory and Speed of Passenger Cars in Highway Tunnels

Abstract

The driving behavior in highway tunnels is more complicated than that in regular roadbed sections because the former is usually affected by black and white hole effects, tunnel clearance, and bad illumination. Unfortunately, the current Chinese criteria and the Uniform Traffic Control Equipment Manual (MUTCD) 2009 guidelines provide no clear method for setting exit advance guide signs in highway tunnels. Hence, a driving simulator-based experiment was conducted in the current study to analyze the effects of exit advance guide signs on the trajectory, speed, and acceleration of passenger cars in a highway tunnel under three different service levels. It was found that when the service level is first service level, second service level, and third service level, the setting of the exit advance guide signs made the initial transverse location of the vehicle from the tunnel exit advance by 13.39%, 21.20%, and 5.73%, the lane change distance is shortened by 6.34%, 20.18%, and 15.34%, the average speed is decreased by 1.44%, 2.40%, and 0.08%, and the acceleration is decreased to −0.10 m·s−2, −0.11 m·s−2, and −0.06 m·s−2. Thus, the exit guide signs in the tunnel played a certain optimization role in improving the traffic flow state of the section and reducing the traffic accident rate.

Off-Ramp Vehicle Mandatory Lane-Changing Duration in Small Spacing Section of Tunnel-Interchange Section Based on Survival Analysis

“…It can be seen in Figure 10(c) that when exit advance guide signs are set in the tunnel, the MLCD of the off-ramp vehicle is significantly lower, and the starting points of lane changing are earlier. is is because the driver has certain psychological expectations after receiving the warning information in the tunnel, and prepares for lane changing as soon as possible after driving out of it, which is similar to the conclusion of Shang [47].…”

“…A deceleration lane and a lane-changing area are set inside the tunnel so that the off-ramp vehicle completes the lane change before leaving the tunnel. (3) Set the separated exit advance guide sign at the tunnel exit or before the tunnel entrance, and give the driver some psychological expectations [47]. (4) Shading sheds can be set outside the tunnel exit to reduce the influence of "light adaptation" on lane-changing behavior.…”

Evaluation of Traffic Signs Information Volume at Highway Tunnel Entrance Zone Based on Driver’s Visual Characteristics

“…Lu et al ( 27 ) and Shang et al ( 28 ) suggested distinct advance guidance signs for the location and distance of the tunnel exit, and tested the safety efficacy of signs with varying heights, widths, and spacing depending on drivers’ visual characteristics. In addition, they also compared and analyzed the differences in visual recognition between drivers who were familiar and unfamiliar with different advance guide signs, and they discovered that advance guide signs placed on the left side wall of highway tunnels are more effective than those placed on the right side wall ( 29 ). Hu et al ( 30 ) conducted research to investigate the connection between the characteristics of contour design inside the highway tunnel and the dimensions of the guide signs.…”

Safety evaluation of visual load at entrance and exit of extra-long expressway tunnel based on optimized support vector regression

“…Miller [ 25 ] evaluated stress as drivers traversed along an interstate route that included tunnel and non-tunnel segments, as well as a 75-m transition period before the tunnels. Shang [ 26 , 27 ] proposed a method to set exit advance guide signs in highway tunnels, and evaluated their influence on the trajectories and speeds of passenger cars. Zhu [ 28 ] evaluated the effectiveness of three types of speed reduction markings (SRMs) in tunnel entrance and exit zones through a driving simulation experiment, and found that SRMs are necessarily implemented in the highway tunnel entrance and exit zones.…”