Safety Evaluation of Highway Alignment Based on Driving Simulator

摘要

A safety evaluation method of highway alignment based on a driving simulator study is proposed to provide support for improving highway design before its construction. A comprehensive evaluation index system both subjective and objective is established. There are three indices including vehicle running characteristic, driver psychological and physiological reaction and subjective safety evaluation. Evaluation criterions and scoring rules for each index are listed and explained, which are used to evaluate the alignments of the highway. Vehicle running characteristics are extracted by the driving simulator experiments, such as speed, acceleration and lateral deviation. With the eye tracker and cardiotachometer, the distribution of eye fixation and heart rate are also obtained during the experiment. The subjective safety evaluation of the road was gained from the questionnaires, including evaluation of agreeableness, comfort and consistency. Finally, it was applied to an actual highway design in Hunan province. The safety level of the road was calculated based on AHM (Analytic Hierarchy Model) method in order to identify the sections with potential security problems. The feasibility and validity of the method are verified.