Studies have shown that accidents in tunnels can be more severe than those in open road networks, and drivers are considered the critical factor for such accidents. An in-depth understanding of driver behavior helps analyze pre-accident safety measures and develop policies. Decoration of landscape zones is considered an effective measure for improving the driving environment inside road tunnels and has been widely adopted in China. However, the research on the impact of landscape zones on driving safety and comfort remains inadequate. It is worthwhile to explore whether the rich and colorful decoration of landscape zones results in driver distraction by excessively capturing driver’s attention, thereby increasing accident risk. To investigate this issue, a driving simulator was used, and tunnel interior scenarios characterized by three landscape zones with different spatial distributions (namely “wall,” “vault,” and “round”) were established. Eye tracking, driving performance, and pupil diameter data were collected to further analyze the driver’s psychological and physiological conditions while driving. The results showed that i) compared to no-landscape zones, the number of driver distractions increased when driving through landscape zones, with distractions caused by vault and round landscapes being particularly noticeable; ii) wall landscapes have certain advantage in maintain longitudinal driving speeds of vehicles more stable; iii) using normalized pupil diameter as an indicator for evaluating visual sensation, all three landscape zones can effectively improve the driver’s visual comfort, with no significant differences among the three; and iv) the pupil diameter changes of the wall landscapes were relatively stable compared to others, indicating the preference for landscape decoration on sidewalls inside the tunnels. The results of this investigation provide new insights into measures for improving the driving environment inside the road tunnels.

中文翻译：

---

评估景观区对公路隧道中驾驶员分心和视觉舒适度的影响


研究表明，隧道中的事故可能比开放道路网络中的事故更严重，司机被认为是此类事故的关键因素。深入了解驾驶员行为有助于分析事故前的安全措施并制定政策。景观区域装饰被认为是改善公路隧道内行车环境的有效措施，在国内已得到广泛采用。然而，关于景观区对驾驶安全性和舒适性影响的研究仍然不足。值得探讨的是，景观区丰富多彩的装饰是否会过度吸引驾驶员的注意力，从而增加事故风险，从而分散驾驶员的注意力。为了研究这个问题，使用了驾驶模拟器，并建立了以三个不同空间分布的景观区域（即 “墙”、“拱顶 ”和 “圆形”）为特征的隧道内部场景。收集眼动追踪、驾驶表现和瞳孔直径数据，以进一步分析驾驶员在驾驶时的心理和生理状况。 结果表明，i） 与无景观区相比，驾驶穿过景观区时驾驶员分心的数量增加，其中拱顶和圆形景观引起的分心尤为明显;（2）墙面景观在保持车辆纵向行驶速度较稳定方面具有一定优势;iii） 使用归一化瞳孔直径作为评价视觉感受的指标，三个景观区都能有效提高驾驶员的视觉舒适度，三者之间无显著差异;iv） 与其他景观相比，墙体景观的瞳孔直径变化相对稳定，表明偏好隧道内侧壁的景观装饰。这项调查的结果为改善公路隧道内驾驶环境的措施提供了新的见解。