Safety impact study of 3D linear guidance signs on desert highways

In view of the traffic safety problems caused by insufficient line-of-sight guidance in special linear sections of desert highways, this study carries out the optimization design research of 3D linear guidance signs based on the visual perception theory in order to improve the effect of visual guidance in desert environments.
According to the characteristics of the desert environment, two conventional linear guide signs are used as the control group, and three 3D linear guidance signs are used as the experimental group. Through the combination of driving simulation experiments and real-vehicle tests, the systematically collected data of drivers’ speed regulation, lateral offset, pupil diameter change, fixation time and subjective evaluation indexes. The index data were compared and analyzed, and a comprehensive evaluation model was constructed to select the optimal line mark.
In terms of visual guidance efficacy, Option 1 reduced the average speed by 6.05 km/h compared to Control 2 and decreased the standard deviation of lateral offset to 0.267 m. It also resulted in a more stable average pupil diameter of 3.28 mm and a maximum fixation duration of 473.74 ms. Multi-dimensional evaluation showed that Option 1 achieved the best overall performance, with all metrics significantly outperforming other options.
The study shows that the three-dimensional stereoscopic design effectively improves the visual guidance effect under the desert environment by enhancing the spatial hierarchy and directional indication of the sign, and the research results provide the theoretical basis and technical support for the optimization of traffic safety facilities on desert highways.