Influence of multiscale visual information on driver’s perceived speed in highway tunnels

Abstract

Speed illusion is the leading contributing factor to traffic accidents in highway tunnels. This study aimed to estimate the influence of visual information at different scales and frequencies on drivers’ visual perception and driving safety in highway tunnels. The speed perception of drivers was measured using the stimulus of subjectively equivalent speeds as an index. Thirty drivers were recruited to conduct a psychophysical experiment on speed perception using a driving simulator. The large-, medium- and small-scale visual information in a frequency range of 0.1–32 Hz were used in the experimental scene to generate scenes for comparison. The results show that high-frequency visual information (2–32 Hz) might lead to driver overestimation of vehicle speed in tunnels, while medium-frequency (0.4–1 Hz) and low-frequency (0.1–0.2 Hz) visual information contribute to speed underestimation. The medium-scale information had the largest speed overestimation effect, followed by large- and small-scale information (significant differences of 2–8 Hz). Medium-scale visual information below 8 Hz had the lowest degree of dispersion of speed perception. Therefore, the use of integrated high-frequency, medium-scale visual information and medium-frequency, large- and small-scale visual information is suggested to reduce the speed illusion of drivers and ensure driving safety.