Abstract: To improve drivers′ visual comfort and safety in tunnels, a set of new pavement luminance coefficient measuring devices are developed. The reflection characteristics of samples are obtained by measuring the luminance coefficients of red, yellow, and green pavement samples. Moreover, virtual experiment method is employed to establish the experimental model and test video in line with the actual project and analyze the eyemovement characteristics of the subjects, such as the locus of fixations and pupil change rate, when driving on the three kinds of color pavement and the original pavement. Results show the following. (1) The reflective performance of the yellow sample is better than that of the green and red samples. (2) When driving on the red pavement, the subjects′ viewpoints are the most concentrated, whereas they are the most dispersed when driving on the yellow pavement. (3) When driving on the red pavement, the rate of change in the subject′s pupil area is the largest, followed by that in the yellow pavement. (4) Considering the reflective performance of the pavement samples, drivers′ visual comfort, driving warning, and other factors, laying yellow pavements in the middle section of highway tunnels is the most conducive to drivers′ safety.

Key words: highway tunnel, color pavement, virtual driving, luminance coefficient, eyemovement characteristics