An Effect Assessment on Application of the Guiding Device for Highway Traffic Safety in Rain and Fog Weather

Abstract

In recent years, in order to improve the safety and comfort of highway driving in poor visibility weather such as rain and fog, and reduce the probability of accidents, the guiding device for highway traffic safety in rain and fog weather (abbreviation: GDHTS) has been installed on many highways in China. The device can form a variety of control strategies through the combination of multiple colors and flicker frequencies of roadside multi-function fog lights to ensure the smooth operation of the overall traffic flow under low visibility. As GDHTS has realized the highway management from passive prompt to active prevention and control in bad weather, many companies have developed and launched the GDHTS, with similar main functions, which has formed a new industry and new business form of traffic safety. For the above-mentioned new industries, the existing product detection methods mostly rely on the functional performance of software and hardware, but lack of evaluation research on the regulation effect and effect of the system on traffic flow. From the perspective of traffic flow theory and traffic engineering, this paper evaluates the application effect of GDHTS by analyzing and sorting out the subjective questionnaire of drivers, measuring speed and headway, and adopting qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods. The GDHTS can obviously regulate the traffic flow under specific conditions such as rainy days, and can effectively improve the safety of vehicle operation.